You know when you have those days when you are so stinking distracted and busy that when you go to use the restroom at work and you totally miss the seat? Like you don’t even realize you’ve missed it until in a daze you look down and see something on the floor? As in, you have missed the seat and peed on the floor? And of course the bathroom is full at the time, so your first thought is, “quick, catch it before it runs over to the neighboring stall” where of course in the 587,001 times you have used the restroom at work you have never seen anyone in the bathroom. Until now. And of course you’re not wearing black shoes. No. Of course not. You’re the only person in the entire building wearing silver shoes. So whoever is in the stall next to you watching you mop and clean up the floor in your silver shoes. Yeah. That’s going viral. Whatevs.

So anyway, was that your day today? No? Did you get a call (preceded by four emails) about how your child has reached the allotted number of detentions they can have before they need an official paddlin? And then had to listen as your child tells you about said paddlin?

Or perhaps you finally finished a “do it or get fired” project that has taken weeks only by the sheer grace of God. (And I do mean grace because if I had stopped to go to the cafeteria this morning to get a bacon biscuit I would NOT have made the deadline. It was that close.)

Oh wait, that can’t be your week. That’s my week.

Let’s look at the rest of the week, want to? Umpteen emails from school. The toilet overflowed last night and no one could find the plunger, or the plunger I purchased before that or any of the other four plungers that have been purchased in the past year. Which eh, whatever, we’re late for church… until LH falls in the mud at church last night, and is covered head to toe in brown goo. If you were driving down the road and happened to see a smallish child getting NAKED in the parking lot from the waist down before he hopped into the car, I’m not saying it was us. It may have been. May not have been. Just. Sayin. And since the toilet wouldn’t flush, guess who goes outside naked to pee off the front porch? Well let me just tell you it wasn’t me. And yes, we do have two bathrooms. However, everyone refuses to use the other one because the toilet is about 12 inches off the floor making me think the previous owners were either very very small, or there’s a leprechaun living in the walls because no one else can use this toilet.

So yes, there he was, gooey boy heading into the shower at 11 pm. Bear in mind the hubs never did find the plunger. In comes LH, telling me that the uh, commode is pouring water out of it. Oh yes. That water. Cancel the shower for gooey boy. Insert 10 pm trip to the only store in town open past 9 where I bought a plunger AND two new towels to mop up the awesomeness that is all over the floor. On a good note, at least the linoleum is brown.

Let’s see, the day before that I had a conference call with some of our agents that did NOT go as planned or rehearsed, since no one could connect. And oh yes, my to-do list has gotten so long I literally got ONE hour of sleep on Tuesday. ONE.

The rest of my week. (We have ants again. Evidently it’s just par for the course in this state. The dog picked up fleas from the neighbor’s dog. Did I mention we had to have a chat with the neighbors because LM was sneaking over and knocking on their windows to get their child to come to said window when the neighbors had relayed that she couldn’t come out to play? Oh yes, missed my personal deadline for getting the Ezekiel  (Bible study) done. I’ve lost my debit card. The dryer broke mid-cycle. I fell on the floor in front of 200 little kids at AWANA and bounced my head off the concrete floor in the activity building resulting in a 2-day long headache. Why? Because I missed the chair completely when I went to sit down. One week, people. One. Week.)

But in the midst of all this chaos I’m amazed to find that I haven’t lost my cool. I haven’t yelled at the kids. I haven’t even ugly cried. Or regular cried.

Wait, I take that back.

I did watch Tinkerbell and the legend of the Neverbeast. And I did cry. It was a ridiculously sad ending.

But that doesn’t count because everyone will cry at this movie. Grown men. Lumberjacks. Professional arm wrestlers. Everyone.

So here’s what God is teaching me through this week month.

1. Things happen. God is still good. It’s going to happen either way, and your (my) response is all that matters.
2. Music is good. Ellie Holcombe is good. Ellie Holcombe music is very very good. It’s good to worship to. It’s good for quiet time. It’s good when you need to rest your mind. It’s just good.

3. Don’t forget to say thanks. Somewhere in the middle of the week it dawned on me that I’d prayed for something earlier in the day (hours before) and forgot to say thanks when it was answered. And then it dawned on me that I do that a lot. A lot. So this week? I’ve told God thank you more. For our health. Our home. The business He is blessing us with. Our family. Our new town (minus the ants). And His death and resurrection on the cross that makes it possible for us to snuggle right up to Him when we arehaving these extra-chaotic weeks.
4. Give yourself credit. So often we beat ourselves up for all the little things we don’t do. I bought a Plum Planner a few months ago. Best thing ever. I forget that sometimes life is made up of a lot of little somethings AND a few big somethings. It’s really helped me to see that there are a lot more little things than I realized. I can give myself the same grace He does for letting one thing slip when I see everything else is on track.
5. Friends are the best. My friend Hilary sent me this gift. (Just pretend that my nails are beautifully manicured, not polka dot-painted in three different colors.I thought about cropping them out but then I thought, Don’t we crop out enough, in an effort to make things look better than they are? If you came to my door today, I would hug you with my imperfect manicure and feed you the coconut cake in my fridge.)

My friend Hilary made my other friend a custom gift too. Y’all, I love her. One day I’m just moving to her house and living on her couch. You’ve been warned, Hilary.

6. Other writers and bloggers are not competition. Their voices are needed and beautiful and broken and whole and that whole, “a word aptly spoken is like apples of gold?” Yes. Gold. Evidently I’ve been hiding under a rock because I’ve not discovered my 1000 things yet. But I have watched my friends paint new Turquoise Tables, and thought about my March, and rejoiced for sisters who are stepping out of their comfort zones and delight in a friend who is changing gears on her new blog and linked up with Anna and the rest of the real moms at Real Mom Confessions. God is good and the pens of the women who inspire me are simply magical.

7. Find 1000 things (gifts) to be thankful for. I’m late to the game, I know. But this week, LM was asked to be the kindergarten reading helper. And she loves it! This is the third school in a row where she’s been asked to help tutor younger kids in reading. It makes this writer mama’s heart so proud. LH scored a full grade above his reading gate test and we’re hoping he makes his first honor roll ever this semester. Our business is good. We are all healthy. We are blessed so much more than we could ever deserve.

There is chaos, yes. (I am totally blaming the bathroom episode on that bump on the noggin last week. That should be good for at least another week.) But in the midst of chaos, there’s also love, peace, friendship, grace, and if you’re hungry, coconut cake.

Cheering for you,

XOXO,
Karen