for all mothers out there. Mothers are human. Our children are human (even if they are cute). Right?
Now, as evidence of how human we all are here in this home, I give witness to this morning's exciting events. To begin with I woke far later than I would have liked to and therefore I was not ready before the troops hit the ground running. Things were going well. Jacob and Nicole were sharing, using words of kindness and working together in the kitchen to prepare a nutritious Pop-tart breakfast. :) I overhead from my station upstairs tending to Andrew and making a bed, "Oh, no!" I did not rush down (I'm not sure why), but slowly descended the stairs with Andrew and peeked through the banister. There was a very large pool of orange juice on the counter and spilling over to the floor. By the time I had gotten there, Jacob was dutifully sopping up the mess with a kitchen towel. I told him he was doing a great job cleaning up and I would finish it up when I came down. No sooner did I return to my tasks at hand, then I heard, "Oh, no!! Oh, no!!!" I think I went a little faster this time. Once again, there was a second, much larger pool of orange juice on both the counter and the floor. All in a different spot, of course. I actually managed to laugh to myself and ordered the kitchen help to evacuate the area. I ran back upstairs, put clothes on and decided I had better get down there. I plopped Andrew into his high chair and began to tackle the sticky, orange mess. I tried to hurry, knowing that the children were anxious to eat the breakfast they had prepared, but I found it a little difficult as my feet kept sticking to the floor. Jacob decided he would turn on all the lights downstairs to brighten up the morning. In the process he managed to knock some curtains out of a front window. Not too major, really, just annoying because I then have to put the curtain rod back together. When the kitchen is moderately safe, I allow the children to enter and eat. I gave Andrew some banana chunks to eat while I do a little more cleanup and find some breakfast for me. By the time I sat down, with Andrew's bowl of peaches and cereal in hand, he had managed to coat most parts of his upper body in banana. At that point I decided that it couldn't get much worse and managed to just not look at the floor as we ate. After breakfast, as I cleaned up Andrew, I realized that a large portion of the banana chucks were now matted in his sweet little brown hair. Oh, boy! I laughed and proceeded to comb them out. Now I have to clean the comb and Andrew's hair isn't quite so fluffy.
As I type this, the children are playing happily and cheerfully and the kitchen is neatly vacuumed and mopped. I am pleased with he assurance that it will now remain clean for at least another 10 minutes. :)
As I sopped, scrubbed, combed, and mopped, I DID smile. I really did - hard for me. I heard in my head, "BEEP BEEP - This is a test. This only a test." And that it is. But it is more than "ONLY a test." This is the kind of test where the scores are determined by the smiles I manage to have amidst the chaos and mess. My scores will be higher if I accept all these things as contributing to my reward in Heaven and offer them up to the Lord.
God bless you all today and remember, when a 5 year old and a 3 year old are making breakfast, expect mess!
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