SO THERE!

Last night, I read an old friend's blog ("old" as in when we were in jr. high/high school in Arizona, not "old" as in age). She wrote about happiness and unhappiness being a choice. "Stuff" happens to everyone, and we each have to decide whether to have a positive or a negative outlook. I didn't realize that there would be a quiz, but thankfully I had paid attention so I passed with at least a "C-". This morning, a whole string of "little things" went all wrong:
1. I woke up at 2 a.m., needing to use the restroom. As I rolled out of bed, cursing my aging bladder,
2. I realized that I had a headache (part two of the Saturday/Sunday headache which was on the left side of my head -- today's is on the right, but the same exact feeling). That meant I also had to go get some ibuprofen, keeping me away from much needed sleep for another minute.
3. As I was about to step into the shower, I saw that I was out of my leave-in conditioner. I wrapped on a towel and went to the "extras" box in the hallway closet. NONE. This might seem irrelevant to most people, but have you seen my hair? There's A LOT of it, and it's CURLY. Without extra conditioner, it's usually a giant frizz bomb requiring a pony tail (which always ends in headache, which I didn't need more of today).
4. When I was getting dressed, I noticed that my shirt was missing a button -- the button that I found on the floor of the laundry room last week and threw away because it's next to impossible to find the matching piece of clothing, so buttons just pile up and I'm on a "clean out the junk" mission right now. So I had to remove the top button (never button that one anyway) and sew it on the empty spot.
5. Luke came upstairs just as I was coming out of the bathroom and heading for my Bible reading time. That usually means a shortened or interrupted Bible time. He did lie on the couch quietly until I turned on the music (the signal that Bible time is over and children may enter the kitchen). He tried to tell me about his nightmare, but the breakfast prep and my headache made me have to tell him that he needed to stop talking and tell me about the dream after breakfast.
6. All of these delays put me behind on the kids' breakfast, which means my breakfast (a.k.a. COFFEE) has to wait until everyone else is eating. Hunger and being off-schedule does NOT help a headache.
7. Jason either overslept or stayed in the bathroom longer than the "allotted" time (all three boys need showers/baths each morning -- they're stinky sleepers).
8. All through these things, my mind kept going back to the million things I still need to do for the kids' Valentine's Day activities, Makenzie/Gavin's b-day party on Sunday, and Makenzie's b-day party on Monday.

Now, these are DEFINITELY all LITTLE things. But with the headache thrown in there and the fact that it was all in the MORNING (hectic time of getting everyone off to school), I would've normally been a short-tempered wreck! Plus, I usually skip or move Bible time if I'm behind. But I remembered my friend's blog and recognized this morning's little problems as either a quiz from God or an attack from Satan. Either way, I was going to try my best. There was no yelling this morning, everyone pretty much cooperated with getting ready for school, my headache didn't get any worse, I did get to have coffee and breakfast before "the shakes" started (by the way, that's decaf coffee -- I just like the taste of my coffee, it's not a caffeine addiction), everyone left pretty much on time with little or no crying, it didn't turn out to be a bad hair day, I have a list pretty much made for what needs to be done for the rest of the week, and I DID read my Bible this morning.

Psalm 14:1 "The fool says in his heart, 'There is no God'."
Ruth Bell Graham: "This designation goes for those who doubt God's sovereignty as well as those who deny Him. Either He is sovereign, or He is not God. Therefore, when we become so preoccupied with and dismayed by circumstances and certain people that we doubt God's ability to handle things in His own way, and in His own time, then we, too, are fools."

p.s. If you have your speakers on, you heard the song "Saved" playing while you read this. If you didn't have your speakers on, turn them on and click on this song on my playlist at the bottom right side of the screen. It's the song that makes me SMILE, even on mornings like this one! Seth and I are going to Classic Toys today to buy tambourines to play with this song :-)









I took this picture this morning as a "I'm going to keep smiling today! SO THERE!" Seth normally messes around when I try to take his picture; but TODAY, he took a great picture!