Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Timing

I fought waking up this morning. The real reason I got out of bed was the sounds of Birdie and Bean bringing "breakfast" (I use the term loosely as it was actually kettle corn and milk) into the playroom. We live in the middle of the country and even though this time of year we usually don't have problems, we generally have an issue with mice making our home theirs. As I was starting to make a legitimate breakfast for us all, I wiped the sleep from my eyes only to have my sights rest on the calendar. WHAT!!!! A dentist appointment for all 3 of us in 1 hour?!?!!? Needless to say, I kicked it into overdrive. Bagels with cream cheese for breakfast, lay out girls dresses (as that is all they want to wear these days and there is NO room for any arguing this morning), brush hair during breakfast, get baby dressed, get girls dressed, brush everyone's teeth, get myself dressed, nurse Bunny so we don't have a freak out at the dentist office as we will be there for an hour and a half, at least, and we're out the door. We had a lovely ride to the dentist's office singing and laughing. Bean is actually quite funny: Why did the butterfly fly across the street? Because she didn't want to walk! Hahahaha (Give her a break, she's only 2). As I pull into the parking lot, I notice that there are quite a few cars here already (unusual for our little family dentistry). We all get out and file into the small waiting room. Tabitha the kind, beautiful secretary takes one look at us and I know....I've seen that look a number of times on a number of faces. She then says in that voice I've also heard a number of times "Your appointment isn't until next Tuesday!?!?" As you may have noticed, this is not the first time and will most likely not be the last, that I show up someplace on the wrong day. It happened only a few months ago when I showed up at my midwife's office a day early, both the kids in tow and I was even showered! It happened again for my nephew's birthday party, we showed up on Sunday to drop off his present because we missed his party on Saturday. I wondered why nobody had called to see why we weren't there, only to find out that it was the next Saturday. It happened again for the same nephew when we actually did miss his birthday and did get a phone call! But the mother of all timing debacles occurred 4 years ago. I had just had Bird 3 months earlier and my friend was coming down to celebrate her 30th birthday. She had just moved an hour and a half away and wanted to spend the night with friends and I was included. This was to be my first time out by myself since having the baby and was soooo looking forward to it. I baked an amazing caramel apple cake and got dolled up like never before (I hadn't lost any baby weight and was trying to balance it with the same amount of extra weight in makeup). I happily left my husband and his brother to play video games, eat junk food and watch the baby as I headed out for the time of my life (since baby)! I walked into the restaurant/bar that my friend had chosen to celebrate, as she loves martinis, and began to search her and her party out carrying a HUGE cake on an even HUGER cake plate. Well, we all know where this is going... the party was the night before, she hadn't called because she knows what it's like to be a mom but she missed me terribly. I was devastated, I got home and cried for hours. Hormones, loss of a fun night, missing such an important event in the life of someone I care deeply about, whatever it was, it stunk! So, now, I've learned that God is the master lemonade maker and when I find myself in one of these timing predicaments, I just need to smile and look for God. As we were heading out of the dentist's office I looked down and saw an amazing orange slug! As I was showing the girls (and the dentist's next client), the slug's feelers and how he moved and left a little slug trail, I looked up and saw a snail! I then asked and showed the girls the differences between the slug and the snail. We then proceeded to find 2 more slugs and 1 more snail and we were able to talk about what made them similar and what made them different. I'm sure my mistake is in the process of being made into a God glorifying experience. I'm sure this little learning experience will be able to be used as a big learning experience in the future. What makes us different, what makes us the same?!?! I'm sure the opportunity will be presenting itself and now God has given me a little gift to stick in my pocket for later. God can make lemonade just by speaking it into existence, but most times He'd rather our help and acknowledgment as He slowly adds and blends the ingredients. How can you help God make lemonade today? What part of your lemon filled day or week could use a little God sighting/sweetening? How will this glass of lemonade that's being made now, be used to refresh someone else later?

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