It Is Well

So, it was a pretty crazy morning. I woke up to two little boys bombarding my bed with sweet "good mornings" and stepping on my head... you know, the usual. After a few tantrums I got them all situated with breakfast and ran to take my shower. Everyone was dressed and ready to go, except the baby, who was still sleeping. I awoke my little prince, who was smiling immediately as usual. What a great gift to start my day:-)

I glanced at the clock- Woo hoo! Looks like we'll be on time today! Not. It's funny how when you are trying to get somewhere on time, everything starts to fall apart. I walked to the wall hook to grab my keys. Nothing there. I scour the house. Look on counter tops, under furniture, in random bags. Everywhere, to no avail. I text my husband to see if he possibly knew where they could be. No response. Then I remembered. The last time I had them was last evening when I sat them on top of the car in the driveway while we were doing yard work. There was no way I left them on top of the car last night...right? 

I tore through the living room, out of the office and into the garage. Slapping the button to open the garage door I strained to see the top of the car. To my horror, there they were. My car keys. In plain sight. Thank God no one took them and my car last night! That would have been a disaster!

I started to calm down and got ready to load the kids in the car when I saw it. My two year old Gideon had ripped the alarm system power source out of the wall. Seriously?! How am I supposed to arm the house while I'm gone? Kneeling over to check the wires and housing for the unit, I see it was an easy fix, I grabbed my tools, shut the power off and begin to re-wire the unit. I turned the power back on to find I did it wrong. Shoot. Try again. All the while, the clock is ticking, and the kids are starting to get hungry as breakfast is leaving their tummies. 

I hear a reassuring beep to let me know the power unit is a go. Awesome. Now to load up the car. I grab my purse and wallet, as I was planning to go grocery shopping after I dropped my eldest off at school. I get them all in the car and start my drive to hear Nehemiah yell "MOM! You forgot to buckle my seat belt!" Oops. I pulled over to take care of that and glanced in my wallet to make sure I had everything for my grocery trip. Once again- No card and no ID. By this time I'm thinking "Come on! What's with this day!" 

Taking a breath, I turned on some music to hear Kristene DiMarco singing "It is well" and let the words of the song wash over me. I thought "Yes. It is well. No matter what things look like, this day is going to turn out just fine. "

I drop my eldest off at preschool an hour late, chase Gideon back to the car and head back home. By this time the baby was asleep and I didn't want to haul them all out of the car again. I rolled the windows down, pulled the car as far into the garage as I could, and hoisted our huge black lab into the front seat to guard my precious babies. I grabbed the keys and ran back into the house. 

The routine continued. Looking over and under everything. Why was I working so hard? That's when I stopped to pray. "Lord, please help me find these cards. Show me where they are." Immediately I knew where to look. I went to the office and knelt under my husbands desk.  Low and behold, there was the card that I needed the most. At this point, the other ID was insignificant. I got the dog back into the house and headed for the grocery store. 

Once I arrived,  I strapped Gideon in the cart and placed Ethan in the harness. My shoulders ached. I was on day 9 of a 10 day water fast and felt weak. I didn't remember him feeling so heavy. 

Any parent knows, taking little ones to the grocery store is no picnic, so I planned to make it a quick trip. I zipped though the aisles to get what I needed. Once finished, I prepared my price-matching list and found the shortest line with the most friendly looking check out attendant that I could find. 

Now, during this trip, Gideon had decided, as he usually does, that he doesn't want to wear shoes. He had already kicked them off once. I had put them on tighter than before, thinking they would stay on. We were next in line when I looked down to see that one of Gideon's shoes was missing. Here we go again. I back tracked through the store, looking under racks and down the aisles that we had been. My body was aching and all I wanted to do was go home. Finding nothing, I grabbed his other shoe and threw it in my purse. We'd just go without shoes today. 

I finally got back to the checkout lane, excited to get my deals and get out of there. The attendant, not as friendly as I had hoped, started ringing up my cart. She notified me as item after item no longer qualified for price-matching at this store, due to patrons exploiting the program. Product after product I told the clerk that I no longer desired to purchase them. I'm on a budget. I figured I could buy them for a better price at the commissary. (That was other other ID that I could not find. My military one.) At the end of the ordeal, there was a whining toddler and a stack of fresh produce that I would not be bringing home. I shrugged, thanked the woman behind me for her patience and headed to the car. Geeze. So much for a quick trip.

I loaded up the kids and groceries, silently hoping the goldfish crackers that I gave my son would be going into my mouth. Before closing the trunk of the car, I glanced down to see a few flashes of orange. I wondered what it could be. Low and behold the clerk had slipped the food that I asked her to take back into my bags, and then some. There were the minneolas that I returned, as well as an orange bell pepper and a juicy mango. I immediately thought "Maybe this was a mistake! I need to take these back." Then I considered the clerk- the way she was very cut and dry and corrected and rebutted me on the appropriate prices of the price-matching ads. It seemed that she caught everything...then why not this? No, this was intentional. 

So, I chalked it up to a blessing and got in the car. Even now when I write these words, I almost feel guilty. Maybe next time I'm in the store, I'll give a donation to charity. Either way, what I took from the experience was that even on a seemingly horrible day, it doesn't take much to turn it all around. The one person I thought could care less about the details of my plight gave me a little blessing. It reminded me that through it all, God sees me. I needed that. Pushing the cart back to its place, I spied Gideon's other shoe on the bottom rack. Hmm. Everything turned out just fine...and you know what? It is well with my soul. 

-Mel