Praising all mothers

He grants the barren woman a home, like a joyful mother of children. Praise the L*RD!
Psalm 113:9

Let’s here it for all the mother’s out there! Hip! Hip! Hooray! I need to applaud all of you out there since I am in the mother role for the weekend! I am blessed to be able to spend the next 4 days with the Baker children while Tim and Pam are in Hong Kong on business. Let me share with you how my day started. I’m sure many of you will be able to relate to this!

It actually started around 11 pm last night. Just as I was falling asleep, the youngest one, Philip, came out of his room. He has sleep apnea and woke up looking for his mom. He didn’t want to go back to bed so I put him in bed with me. Since I am not used to sleeping with anyone in my bed…you can imagine how much sleep I DID NOT get! When my alarm went off at 6:00, I knew I was going to need A LOT of caffeine and lots of grace to get through the day. As I came downstairs to brush my teeth, Philip ran down the stairs in front of me. He scooted to the computer and scooped it up. He turned around and headed back upstairs. I told him he could only do the computer if he got ready for school first and only while I was making him breakfast. I left him moaning, pr*ying he would give it up and went to the bathroom. I was starting to rethink the day I said to God “I could do a big family.” Let’s hope He thought I was only joking when I said that! I went to brush my teeth and let Phil sort out his issues. I went in the kitchen to get a cup, brushing my teeth while I was walking. Cocoa, their oldest dog, came in the kitchen. I figured now was as good a time as any to get her outside. While standing there with my toothbrush in my mouth, I tried to pick up an old Doberman who saw the snow outside and didn’t want to go out. After a few minutes of that battle, I was able to get her out. I went to get the other dogs. They went out but I obviously didn’t leave them out long enough. When they came in, Benji was caught up in his dog sweater and as I tried to untangle him, he peed all over the floor. I want you to know that I now have been up no longer than 10 minutes!

As I walked into the kitchen looking for paper towels and all I could do was laugh. I just kept thinking, if this is the first 10 minutes, what else is in store for my day? I went upstairs to get Phil dressed for school. He was trying to convince me that his mother only makes him brush his teeth at night. Good thing I had the dangling carrot of "Hurry up and get dressed so you can go on the computer" on my side. I never knew how wide awake children can be and how fast they can try to negotiate their way out of what ever your best laid plan was. Remember...I have been teaching for 20 years but have rarely had to do this morning negotiation thing. AND I function best AFTER I have had my shower. So after 10 minutes of negotiating, I won out and we headed downstairs. I walk into the kitchen to make him breakfast and SLIDE through a present that one of the dogs have left me on the floor. Now I am doubled over in laughter! What else can you do when you have lost full control over the day in 20 minutes and you still have 2 more kids to get up and you are not yet ready for work either! Thank goodness that Esther is 17 and took care of herself!

I can fortunately say that other than needing a caffeine IV, my day was fairly uneventful. I did shake my head and ask Him though, "Are you sure I can handle this mother thing?" I will be 43 next month and my adoption is at least 1 if not 2 years off. When I started this adoption journey, I was originally thinking a child closer to the 9 month old age would be nice but now I am thinking I am WAY TOO OLD for a baby...toddler/preschool age sounds much nicer! So this goes out to all the mothers out there who have had one of these days if not many of these days and for those of you who have perfect children and NEVER had to experience one of these. My hat goes off to you. Thank you for having children and loving them, especially when you lose full control over your day and your plans. I so long to be a mom and what a gift it is to be a mom. If your children don't already realize what a gift you are to them, may they come to know that soon.