Today Let Me Appreciate

So if you saw my post on FB last night, you will know it wasn't my brightest day. It was Sam's birthday and I wanted it to be a perfect relaxing night. I was going to have the kids showered, the house cleaned up, supper ready to go, and a cake-frosted and decorated by the kids- for dessert when he walked in the door. Instead, what actually transpired was about as polar opposite of the above scenario as possible. I was just starting supper, no cake at all-let alone one frosted and decorated, the house was a WRECK and the kids were whiny and fighting. Laundry was piled up, everything was a disaster, and so was I. Sorry honey-Happy Birthday to you! :( Sam wasn't the least bit fazed and just went on as normal, but I love birthdays and wanted to make his special, even if it really wasn't that big of a deal to him. He does so much for us and in my head, this was how I was going to show him how much I appreciate all he does and what a great dad he is.
AND to top it all off, Kai was being an absolute BEAST all day yesterday. He was whining, biting or crying pretty much all day. When he wasn't doing one of those things, he was hanging on my legs and fussing. We were ready for lunch and the kids had turned off the tv, but Kai wanted it on apparently. He climbed on the tv stand and tried to turn it back on (which he can totally do...*SIGH*). Darren tried to get him off the stand to bring him in for lunch, but Kai was hanging on the top of the tv and pulled it over, off the stand, onto the floor and crash-our tv is shot. The screen is broken and completely unwatchable. Oh my word.....I wanted to run out of the house screaming. Seriously. I really did. The kids knew they were in so much trouble and all 3 of them just looked at me with HUGE eyes. I didn't freak out-I just told them to go sit down and eat their lunch and tried to take lots of deep breaths in the meantime.
I wanted to bawl. We have been doing really good about trying to stay in our budget, even though it's squeaking. We have been doing good, but it's Christmas! I know my kids don't need a single things and it's about memories, but I LOVE LOVE LOVE Christmas and watching how happy they are when Santa brings them the perfect gift. My commission checks from Initials have been paying for Christmas so far, and that helps us to stay on budget in other places, and everything seemed to be going good, and then BAM! (literally....) this happens. I know that TV is definitely NOT a priority and not even a need, but my mornings seem to go so much smoother when Kai has his juice and his blanky and watches "go go go" in the little chair while I am getting the other kids ready. This morning? Not so smooth :) but we managed and everyone made it to school at their appropriate times. :)
Ok, so now you know how my day went. I am not whining (ok, I was, but not anymore-I'm just telling you now) but seriously...it was a STRESSFUL day. This morning, not so much better-crabby fussy teething monster. Finally decided that we were going to go pick up Arby's for lunch, got D to school, put Kai down for a much needed nap, got Claire situated playing quietly, and sat down to chill for a bit. I was looking thru Facebook and saw this blog post at "Hands Free Mama". I literally cried as I was reading it. I know for sure that this was one of those times when God let me see exactly what I needed to at the exactly the right time.  I shared the link to the blog post and the poem "Today Let Me Appreciate". It's so very true and so often I lose sight of it.

This is the part where the tears really started to flow:
Today let me appreciate the gifts in the mundane, ordinary moments that are graciously given to me. Because even though it’s far from perfect … and sometimes it’s messy and hard … this is my life.
And for this anything-but-small miracle that is my life … I am thankful.

Today Let Me Appreciate

 

 

Maybe you are having a tough day too or maybe not. Maybe we all just need a good reminder to be thankful for all the little things that add up to really big things.

So for now, I am going to go snuggle with my kids, rock with my grouchy baby, keep the motrin coming and be ok with frozen pizza for dinner and be thankful for all the little things. Thanks Lord, I needed that~