Gratitude Friday...

This.  Week.

Oh, This Week.  You were determined to push me to drink.  

And I did, actually.

A chocolate milkshake from Chic-fil-a.

It was sooooo good.  

One day, both kids woke up with diapers that had leaked.  Everywhere.  By 8:00 am, I had changed both beds, washed both kids and done a full load of laundry.  

Word.

One day, I must not have closed the dishwasher all the way because while I was with AK in her room, Rhys came waltzing in.  Wielding a steak knife.  Like a sword.  

Heart.  Stopped.

One day, Rhys woke up crying.  And then never really stopped.  I'm guessing teething but he hasn't been fussy the rest of the week.  Chalk that one up to, "Clueless Mom."

What.ever.  

One day, as I was putting breakfast dishes away, I hear Aubrey Kate yell, "Rhys!  Don't eat my poo-poo!"

Heavenly days.  He had reached right into the toilet and was holding onto a poo-stick.  I got to him before he put it in his mouth.  Getting it out of his hand left us both covered in poo.  Another day of morning bath time.

Crap.

Literally.

Then there was the school battle.  Pet Show and Tell day when she was supposed to bring a stuffed animal and she insisted Stripes was her pet.  The other kids brought these life-sized stuffed animals, which is what I assumed would happen.  

And here's my kid.  With her lovie.  

The good news is she was thrilled.  Stripes got a Blue Ribbon as a Star Pet.  I'm pretty confident all the "pets" got a blue ribbon but Stripes is still wearing it proudly.

There was "I feel" day when they kids talked about their feelings.  Duh.  When I got there, all the kids' face paintings were either "silly" or "happy."  

Except mine.

She was "sad."

For real.  

I tried asking her why she was sad and she said she wasn't.  She just liked it because the smiley face was upside down.  And, Mom, if you turn the paper around, it's a smile!

Well.  

After that, I was sad.  

And smack in the middle of all that, my precious, amazing, God-gifted friend had her second miracle.  

I am telling y'all.  Praying for my infertile friends through their journeys of growing their family has been one of the biggest blessings in my life.  

In a way, I felt like all these random events were attempted distractions to keep me from spending time praying.  We've got a whole lot of "messy" going on around us.  Not really for us right now.  

Although.  Poo.  Steak knives.  Leaky diapers.

Messy.

But apart from my health issues, which only feel messy every six to seven weeks, we're busy praying up others in the midst of their "messy."

Birthin' babies?  Messy.

And with all my heart, I am beyond grateful I was able to keep right on praying through all that.  Somewhere around Wednesday morning, so half-way through but before the poo, I realized what was going on and simply called it what it was.

you are not winning.  I'm gonna pray and then pray and then pray some more.  you can throw as much crap (literally) at me to try and distract me from my Father.  But you are not gonna win.  

So after that, it wasn't a distraction.  

But, Father, if You could just step in and stop my son from playing with poo, that would be awesome.  

And perhaps if his sister and I could remember to close any and all doors, that would be helpful too.  

Messy.