Our 6 year anniversary

Oh, I had such high hopes for today!! Unfortunately it didn't get off to a great start. Here's the rundown:

Beginning from last night, I start the weekend by watching 2 other kids for the evening. Jim calls to say he'll be home very late. It was a very busy night. The boys have the first ever 3 hour bedtime battle. They are still not asleep when Jim comes home at 10pm. They are screaming in their rooms, I am crying in mine. First thing this morning Jim is off to work and I get the kids out the door for Christmas program rehearsal at church. I take another little girl home with me so her mom can attend the ladies brunch. We get home and my kids are tired and cranky from their late night. They have snacks and the boys go to bed. Jim is done working and calls to say he'll be home to pick up the van to help friends of ours move. Our babysitter for our evening date calls to say she's got a cold and that we're expecting a big snow storm tonight... she prefers to take a rain check and come another time. I look outside. It has started to snow. I call Jim to tell him we no longer have a date night and then ask him to pick up milk, bread and feminine supplies (yes, that did not help me out today either) before the snow gets too bad. He says he will and then prays for me as I start to cry. As I go to put the phone away I slip and get a 3/4 inch splinter in my foot from our hardwood floor. Ouch! When my friend comes to pick up her little girl I have not yet gouged out the splinter, but my foot is bloody and I am walking with a limp. Eventually, I tear through the skin enough to pull the splinter out and bandage it up. Jim gets home and I heat up his lunch. He soon leaves, with the lawn mower running in the garage to run out the rest of the gasoline before it freezes and ruins the mower. Before long, the house is permeated with a gas smell and I am nauseous with a headache. The boys wake up, Kaden is still cranky and crying. I put him in his room until his attitude changes. I call Jim to tell him about the gas smell. He says to turn off the heat and open the doors and windows. It is 28 degrees outside. I do it anyway.



A half hour later the smell has dissipated, so the doors are closed and the heat is turned back on. We sit and enjoy some books together, then go upstairs for a nice afternoon bath. They enjoy it for awhile, until they start crowding one another for space and fight, so I take them out one by one, lather them up with lotion and put them in jammies, even though it's only 4pm. I am hopeful that bedtime will be early. I go downstairs and hear a message from Jim asking if he should stay longer to help out more. I call to tell him his wife and kids need him. It's our anniversary. The weather is terrible. Please come home. He says he'll come right away. As I hear frozen rain whipping at the windows I pray that he will arrive home safely. At 5:10pm I call just to check. He's almost home. At 5:12 he walks in the door. He has brought home dinner. Ahhh. Then he pulls out an egg nog latte for me. Even better.


TOGETHER AT LAST!

From here, my day is better. We play with the kids and then Jim puts them to bed at 6:30!! Unbelievable! We play a game and we eat dessert. We snuggle up on the couch and watch a movie. We go upstairs and cuddle as we listen to the wind howling outside and frozen rain whipping at the windows. I am warm and comfortable. I am wrapped in the arms of a man who loves me. I have three beautiful, healthy children sleeping soundly down the hall. I am blessed! Regardless of the work Jim had to do today, or the splinter in my foot, or the gas in the house or the snow storm outside, or our canceled date night or my tired kids, we have been given life together and it is good.