Feeling Crumby

This morning I got pretty frustrated with Coralyn.  She had taken part of her breakfast out of the kitchen and into the living room, onto the couch, to eat while I wasn't paying attention.  When I turn around, the couch is covered in crumbs!  I had JUST cleaned the couch -- steam cleaned it, along with the carpet -- after she had been sick and thrown up in three different rooms in the house and peed on the couch while taking a deep nap.  I was glad the germs were gone and that the couch was no longer smelled like urine, wasn't covered in cat hair, and was crumb free.

I should have known...

I think it's a law of nature: As soon as you clean something in the house, your child will immediately get it dirty, dirtier than it was before, even.

As I was taking a deep breath and explaining to Coralyn why I didn't really appreciate the fact that she had brought her breakfast to the couch and made a huge mess, God kind of smacked me in the face.  There was no gentle whisper or calm reminder this time around.  No more Mr. Nice Guy.  Straight to the heart of the matter, and He wasn't mincing words either.

Yeah, I had to wipe up some crumbs from my nicely cleaned couch.  Is that really something to get upset about?  Think about...

Those crumbs mean my child ate today (and will eat again, and again, and again).

I was cleaning the crumbs off my couch, which means that I have a place -- a comfortable place -- to sit down in my house.

I have a house, a nice house that is truly bigger than what we need.

I am at home today, spending time with my girls, who are both healthy.  I am not in the hospital watching my child battle a brain tumor, as two families I know are currently doing.  I am not grieving the loss of my child who should have turned one today, as my friend from high school/college is doing today.  Instead, I am wiping crumbs off my couch.

Pretty sure I don't have anything to complain about anymore.

So, just a few minutes ago as I was doing laundry and trying to think of what we would have for supper and when I would find time to prepare the food, I stopped rushing around like a mad woman.  Rather than let myself get all bent out of shape, I started thanking God for all that He has given us, all that He is doing in our lives.

By folding laundry, I am reminded that we have clothes to wear, towels to dry us off after we take a nice, hot shower, and sheets on our beds.  We have beds to sleep in; beds that aren't made of straw or random rags or cardboard mattresses.  The proverbial snowball kept rolling and getting bigger and bigger as God kept bringing things to mind for which I could tell Him, "Thank You."

Laundry folded, I moved on to making supper, or at least getting part of the meal prepared.  Again, I was able to go from being stressed to feeling grateful.  I have food to eat today, a fridge full of even more food.  That fridge is run by electricity, which means my house also has lights and ceiling fans.  And an electric stove to cook chicken in while I write this blog post, on my laptop which is powered by electricity.

One final change of perspective and then I will be done.  This one is actually the hardest one for me.  Coralyn, as usual is not taking a nap today, which means I won't get any "me time," other than the few minutes it is taking me to write this blog post.  Instead of being annoyed with my daughter, God has reminded me that this is yet again another opportunity to be thankful.  I certainly am grateful that my little girl is alive and well and that I have this precious time to spend with just her.

And so, I am off to make Owl Cookies, a fun way to reinforce what we are learning in "preschool" this week as we "study" the letter O.  (Pictures to come)