I had been writing a post about packing in my head all morning. We are moving in two weeks!! But, I think venting instead will do wonders for my state of mind!
Today is our first day back to reality after Christmas. It was the first day in almost a week that Daddy got up and went to work...leaving the rest of us to figure out our day! We had no plans...that will change for tomorrow :).
It was a banner "Are they all yours?" day at the mall. I think I was asked that 5 times. It is usually only a few times a week, so it was a record day.
Of course, no one would've asked me that question if we weren't standing out so much. But, we were.
I was officially the crazy lady at the food court chasing around the disobedient 3-year-old girl and her younger brother who thought she was SO cool. There were exploding ketchup packages and loud demonstrative tantrums (the 6-year-old and the baby were fabulous, for the record) over....everything.
Yup, they are all mine.
A cousin (who I see only very rarely) asked me recently how many kids I had. I said, "Five." He probably just couldn't keep track as they all ran past us. Without changing his expression, he simply said, "Why?"
I had a million emotions rushing through my head....and a few poorly phrased comebacks circling around as well. In a moment of either grace or stupidity, I said nothing. I just kept a smiled pasted on my face. I ended the conversation by excusing myself and talking to the next relative.
I am incredibly blessed to have five children. I vividly remember only 7 short years wondering if I would ever have any children. I wonder if I had gotten pregnant easily if our children would be spaced so closely. Perhaps we would have thought it would be easy to "get pregnant next time," and we would have waited. But, I think that period of infertility really changed our minds and hearts to be open to God's timing.
Yup, they are all mine, and "my hands are full" (another favorite)...full of blessings!
As we were waiting to get on the elevator at the mall, I looked up and saw a picture (it was at one of those middle-of-the-mall stores that pops up at Christmas). The picture said (paraphrased), "Enjoy the small things in your life, for looking back, you will see that they were really the big things."
I just read a prayer by St. Teresa of Avila that mentioned "responding to the slightest prompting of grace." I had been praying for peace as we walked through the mall, so perhaps this picture was a slight prompting of grace. It did snap me out of my mood. I could now leave the food court behind me and go on with my day.
And, I was able to smile at the person who said, "Are they all yours? They are so cute," as we left the mall. If I had not seen that picture, I would probably have had a demonstrative temper tantrum...well, not really...but I don't know that I would've nodded in agreement!
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