Discouragement

The Lord really has a sense of humor! For Children’s Story at church on Sunday, I talked to the kids about the importance of a good attitude. We smiled a bit at the scripture, “Rejoice in everything” knowing that for sure and certain, days will come and things will happen that are not at all “rejoicing” occasions!

Wouldn’t you know that the very next day, Monday, was just such a day for me and mine? God knew.

Dh took the day off and we set out to the State Fair. I’d purchased advance tickets, which happened to save us $8 off the gate price EXCEPT that we discovered upon arrival that it was dollar day at the fair, ha! We paid the dollar to get in and saved our advance tickets for b&sil and their kids to enjoy. That’s not all we saved for them. Monday was *windy+rainy=cold* and the family pack of tickets I’d purchased (which included 4 tickets each for train rides and sky rides, etc) went unused! Major disappointment to all of us. We did indulge in a smoked turkey leg, Pronto Pups all around, fries, onion rings and ice cream (yeah, crazy, but hot chocolate wasn’t available!). We enjoyed as many indoor exhibits as we could, braved the rain for a few carnival rides and headed for home. Spent as much time in the Suburban traveling as we did actually at the fair.

Took a wrong turn just outside of the city that probably saved our lives. Twenty minutes later, through pouring rain, we came upon a horrible accident. A jack-knifed tractor-trailer rig was across the highway, and a 4 door sedan was smashed underneath his trailer. Don’t think anyone could have survived that. Police and ambulance arrived just before we did. The rain continued the entire drive home, and the road-wash from every semi that we passed jolted me with the realization that life is too precious to waste it wishing for silly things like sunny days at the fair.

The day left me chilled inside and out.

But we talked on the way home about “Rejoicing in everything,” and how much more precious those times are when things go great–like our camping trip to South Dakota. Every minute of that trip was an orchestrated miracle, one blessing after another. What if it had rained and been cold the whole time? It could have been, easily.

I admit that even today I had the blues. Forced myself to go through the motions of fixing breakfast, homeschooling and doing laundry. Had some more bad news, depending on how you look at it (neighbor issues). Felt actually feverish when talking to my mom at 3 pm but decided when toddler woke up that we’d go outside and weed/water flowers together. She hosed me (by accident?) and I felt much better. 🙂

Got online this evening and my jaw dropped at all the blog comments! I think I’m almost caught up now. Thank you all for the blessing you always are to me. I appreciate you! Yes, even those of you that think I’m an awful mom.

Sweet dreams,

Mary