An Interesting Day

Today was an interesting day! It started out pretty good and I thought things were going swimmingly...but then things began to deteriorate about the time we were all ready to head out the door.

Normally, not all of us would have to be ready to go out, but since Miguel is not here, I am taking Micah and Gracia to school every morning this week. And since this was the first day after 10 day break, well, our getting-ready-for-school skills are a bit rusty. :( And today was our organization's Day of Prayer...the language study department was hosting the students from part of the training institute and I was heading out to that.

Right before leaving, Micah got a little creative with brushing his teeth and soaked his clothes...it was too late to change, so I just sent him on "as is"...we're in a desert, it will dry.

I had to come back into the house several times to get things I forgot...I am usually not so flaky.

I asked Micah to shut and lock the gate behind all the kids while I was getting Jkaile into his seat. Not only did he not lock it, he left it wide open so the dogs got out. I was already in the van, so had to get back out, round them up, shut and lock the gate...not happy.

After getting the kids to school, I realize that we didn't have the bag of snacks...I had given it to Jojo to hold for me before exiting the gate back at home (probably not a wise decision on my part, but hey, I was delegating). I race back home in the van (just a few blocks from school) and sure enough, the dogs were already gnawing on it...fortunately, we only lost one small bag of cookies and the rest was salvageable.

Back at school, I realize that I have lost one set of house/gate keys (I had another full set on the van keys, thank goodness). Not good, so I came back to the house to see if I'd left them hanging in the gate. They weren't there and the gate was locked, so I just assumed they were in the van and went on to the Day of Prayer activities.

Day of Prayer was really, really good and a blessing. Miguel had asked one of the guys in the training to lead communion and prayer and we had worship as well. I thought it was neat that he wanted to arrange all the seating around a large rectangle of tables, making it more informal and intimate than having the seating arranged in rows. They also made everyone move around to mix it up a little. Anyway, it was a good time spent with brothers and sisters in Christ and it's exciting to see the integration of cultures and the relationships being formed there. Childcare was provided and it was nice not to have to get up and chase someone down every few seconds. :) (Thanks, Tasha and Cindy!)

Back home, I couldn't find the keys anywhere! I was beginning to worry and thinking the worst, like we would need to change the locks, etc. as I thought that maybe I'd dropped them in the road in front of our house and someone had picked them up? Then I realized that I hadn't yet prayed about it, so I stopped and asked for wisdom. The thought ocurred to me to retrace my steps from when I was recovering the bag of snacks from the dogs and sure enough! There they were in the grass, thank you Lord!

After the excitement of the morning, our afternoon was relatively calm! I fed everyone lunch and then we all had a nice nap, which helped me regain some of my composure...I felt like I had more control over things and over myself and the kids are responding to that in a positive way. I spent some good time with them, even throwing the baseball around with Micah, and then I put them to work. Tacos for supper, washed the dishes,swept and mopped the floor, a devotional...and all four kids in bed by 8 p.m.!!! :) Whew!

So all in all, an interesting day. I hope that tomorrow is more mundane...I could use some mundane about now...

Micah cleaning the birdcage-we are taking care of

parakeets for some friends

Gracia washing the dishes

Jojo cleaning his room

(Yes, those are bungee cords you see on the bunkbed!

A unique way of keeping the boys from falling out of bed. :) )