Warning: this post could be considered long and boring, but there is a reason to my rambling.

God is so very good and I’m so glad that I know Him and that He is in control of my life.  What a day we had yesterday.  It was one of those days when you probably should have stayed in bed.  It wasn’t that is was a bad day, just so very long.  Tuesdays we always start school earlier because the kids ice skate from 12:30 to 2:00 and my daughter has been having basketball practice from 4:00 to 6:00.  So we started school at 7:30 and things went all right.  The kids had some problems with their math and my daughter was having trouble basically focusing on her work.  I was running between the laundry, housework, working on next week’s lessons, and helping with the schoolwork.  At 11:30 we ate some lunch and got ready to go; nothing too out of the ordinary for Tuesday.  It takes ½ an hour to get to the rink. When we got to the rink we were told that our buy one get one free coupon would no longer be accepted during homeschool days.  Fine, that’s okay. We just may not go every week. The kids met up with some homeschool friends and had great fun while my hands literally froze as I worked out the menu for the next two weeks and made my grocery list.  My daughter had forgotten her gloves so I had given her mine.  I had to finally go outside to warm up.  We’re used to the rink being cold but when we looked at the thermometer inside it read 34°.  Brrr. Not used to that cold, especially when the outside temperature was 65°. We were going to go grocery shopping right after skating, but I had this bright idea that we would go home first, finish school and then while my daughter was at practice I would run to all the stores and pick her up after.  Then I thought my son could stay home, keep an eye on the roast I had in the oven, and all would be right with the world.  Just as we were about to leave for practice, my oldest called to talk about an opportunity that was presented to him.  I didn’t want to brush him off, but we had to go, so I told him I’d have to call him later.  Now being a few minutes late, I dropped my daughter off at practice, called my oldest back and drove to the store. (Don’t worry; I use a headset, so my hands are on the wheel.) I was of no help to him and I just frustrated him more.  Sometimes I just don’t know what to say. Anyway, at the first store I went to I was through getting the groceries very quickly but when I got to the register to pay my mind went blank.  This store only takes cash or debit card and for the life of me I could not remember my PIN number. I tried all the ones I thought it was, but not the right one.  So I tried to call my husband, but I couldn’t get a hold of him.  Then I phoned home and had my son go through my files and check registers to see if he could find it.  Poor kid, I had him searching through everything I could think of.  He couldn’t find it.  He had no idea what he was really looking for anyways, but he tried.  Finally the cashier told me that she would save my cart and I could run to the bank or ATM.  Funny thing was I could remember the ATM PIN, which I almost never use, but not the debit card I use all the time.  It’s rough getting old.  My bank was on the other side of town so I found an ATM machine nearby, paid the extra $2 fee and got the cash.  As I was driving away my ever-vigilant son called.  He had found the stack of PIN numbers and read them out to me.  As soon as I heard the right one I remembered.  Oh well, a bit late but I so appreciate him hunting it down for me.  At that time I asked him to peel the carrots and put them on the stove to cook and to put a few potatoes in the oven. Now I’ve been on this adventure a half hour longer than I planned.  So I ran to the second store, got the few items I needed there, and, not having time to hit the last store, I  raced to the other side of town to get my daughter. She came hobbling out of practice. She had twisted her ankle.  Then she and I went last store on my list to finish the shopping with her leaning on the cart to keep off the ankle (she’s fine this morning). What a mean mom I am to make her go shopping with me. The sales ended yesterday and there were some great bargains I didn’t want to miss, thus the reason for the run around.  Wish all the stores would have reasonable prices all the time so you don’t have to do the run around. While going through the meat aisle it dawned on me that the roast had been in the oven all this time. So I phoned my son, and told him to take it out.  We finally get home and right as I pulled in the garage my son comes out with the phone. It’s my co-leader for Girl Scouts wanting to go over our plans for Thursday’s meeting.  Now it’s 7:00 and normally we have finished eating and are settling in for the night.  My darling son brought the groceries in and put them away.  I tried to multitask by talking on the phone and getting dinner to the table when I noticed that the roast had a nice black color to it.  So I sliced of the crispy parts and served the inside.  The carrots were a bit soft but the potatoes were perfect.  He had done exactly what I had told him to and I was so proud of his effort considering he had never made a complete meal like that before.  After we ate and everything was cleaned up, the kids took baths/showers and headed to bed.  My son is going on the Boy Scout Polar Bear campout this weekend and he had me look at everything he pulled out for the trip.  This is his 3rd time going so he knows exactly what he needs and did a great job packing.  Earlier in the day my wireless keyboard for the computer had quit and I couldn’t find the directions for how to get it to sync up again.  I messed with that for a while until I finally gave up from pure frustration. My husband came home at 10:30 and ate a bowl of cereal for supper. He didn’t want a heavy meal before he went to bed, and believe me if he had eaten that roast he definitely would have been weighed down.  Then we headed for bed.  There were other little dramas that happened throughout the day but too many to write about.  Those were the biggies.

Now, if you’re still with me, you may ask, why did she write all of this? None of that seems so bad.  As I started out this post, I am so glad that God is in control of my life.  Despite what I found to be a very frazzled and overloaded day, I really wasn’t terribly upset by it.  In the past I would have stressed over all the events of the day, getting bothered by the inconveniences and the business and still feel like nothing was getting done.  But I found myself rejoicing in each episode. My kids were happy and my wonderful son stepped up to the plate without hesitation. There was nothing earth shattering or disastrous.  I was blessed with the means to get what needed to be done, done. As harried and filled as the day was, God provided a solution to every problem.  It’s in the simplest ways that if we take a second to look we are able to see His hand in everything.  So, although I went to bed tired I slept peacefully knowing that He was in control.  Isn’t it wonderful knowing this?