More Lucy Than June

I think that’s a quote from Willy Wonka. (The original…not the crazy version with Johnny Depp…that gave me nightmares…)

Anyway…

Today, Stephen and I drug all the kids out to brunch at O’Charley’s, shopping at Target, and various other errands. 

Things went well, but when I walked back into my house this afternoon…

It was clean. The kitchen table had flowers on it…it was mopped, vacuumed, swept, scrubbed, decluttered, dejunked…clean.

The Cleaning Angels had arrived while I was out.

Four of the most beautiful women I know came into my house while I was away and cleaned it for me. Top to bottom. They are my Journey Group women. And I love them dearly…

They didn’t ask me if they could. They knew I would say no. Or have a near panic attack at the thought of someone coming over to what surely should be deemed unlivable…

No. They told Stephen. And he didn’t tell me. He just left the door unlocked, and let them come in…

I cried. It was a little like Extreme Makeover Home Edition. (We really should have videotaped it…)

Kenni, upon seeing her room, said,

Uh. Who did this?

Our beautiful friends. Now be respectful of that and clean it all back up when you’re done playing!

What kind of friends do I have? The kind that come in, and LITERALLY see my dirty laundry, and love me anyway. 

I am humbled and amazed that people love me enough to do that for me.

I can only hope that I am half the friend to them that they have been to me today.

This is truly something that I will never forget. It meant the world to me, and they knew it would.

And surely, they had to know that they were taking their own health into their hands to even cross the foyer. I haven’t cleaned my house in…..A LONG TIME…..

This has been one of the most clear examples of Christ to me that I have seen displayed in a long time.

Thank you Melissa, Shari, Allison, and Jill. I pray God blesses you abundantly for what you have done today. You did it for my family, but you also did it for Him.

…Where you’re pretty sure the enemy is trying to take you out?

That would be me today.

Jack hasn’t napped all day…it’s currently 1:24 p.m. He just fell into a restless sleep…we’ll have to see how that goes.

Caia played her new favorite game this morning. It’s called “Scream Like A Maniac and Attach Myself Like a Leach to My Mother’s Leg So That She Can Do Nothing Else”. Follow that up with a round of “Try To Bodyslam My Baby Brother” and you’ve got a great morning.

Still in my pajamas…there doesn’t look to be a shower before nightfall for me.

The house…well, it looks like Sanford and Son’s. I’m not joking.

And I hate it. I cannot stand the chaos of it. And…I cried.

Who can deny the feeling of a good soul-cleansing cry every once in awhile?

I had so many thoughts running through my head. 

I’m not good enough. I can’t do this. I’m a horrible mommy. A horrible wife. A horrible housekeeper. A horrible…EVERYTHING.

All of these are lies. Lies, lies, lies.

I prayed and asked God for a peace to fill our home. For order. For calm. For STRENGTH.

The truth is…I CAN’T do it on my own. 

But I know the One who can help me.

I’ll update later on this post…I am confident that God will see us through to a beautiful redemption of this day…

UPDATE: Well, Jack stayed asleep for three hours when I wrote this last post. He had to “fuss it out” a few minutes, but then stayed sound asleep. Long enough for Mommy to get a shower AND lay down for 10 minutes!!! WOO HOO!!!

Kenni helped me pick up a few toys and books (for a bribe of marshmallows, of course), and I was able to pop the chicken in the oven for dinner.

Jack continued to fuss, but after I fed him at 6:45, went down for another nap around 7:30ish.

Stephen made it home before 6:00 (WHAT?!?), and we had the girls in bed by 8:00.

Dishes in the dishwasher. Table clear of dinner dishes. (Hey…that’s a big deal these days…)

Now…we’re hoping OUR Jack continues to cooperate with us so that we can watch America’s Jack (that would be Jack Bauer, people), and snuggle together on the couch for some quiet time alone without children…

THANK YOU, JESUS FOR A CALM IN THE CHAOS TODAY.

I dreamed I got asked to speak at some event at church. It was not West Ridge…it was a church I went to years ago.

I told them,

Oh? You want, like, a skit or something?

They said no. They wanted me to be THE speaker.

I think I had a small heart attack in my sleep.

So, they never told me what to speak on. And when it came time for me to speak, I started talking about what clothes I wore to the hospital the day Jack was born.

Within two minutes, the room had emptied.

Guess they won’t ask me again….

I told Stephen that I didn’t feel like I should be operating heavy machinery right now. Driving anywhere in this kind of mental fog seems dangerous.

Operating a vacuum seems dangerous right now, but that’s beside the point…

article on new parent\’s sleep usa today

…this will make you laugh.

Or make you want to punch the author of the letter.

Personally, I had a little bit of both of those reactions. But, hey…I’m running on about 3 hours sleep per night for the past month so…..

My friend Julie sent this to me, and I just had to share.

To add to the list of things that the author lists as taking up a mom’s time, I would like to add some from my day today…

**sending the four year old to time-out repeatedly

**keeping the toddler from eating the cat food

**sweeping up said cat food from all over my floor

If you’re a mom, take heart in what I keep reminding myself…

“We are more than conquerors….”
(By the way, just realized the image is too large for the page. Sorry. I’m too tired and struggling with a screaming toddler to even try and figure it out right now. Maybe I’ll get to it later… Or maybe not… We’ll just have to see… )