Stop and smell the awesome

Sunday morning.  Time change weekend. Husband working overtime.  Smallest child has been puking.  Oldest child is behind on schoolwork.  Lights dim, curtain rises..................

I decided that I would leave Sam home with Ally and Emily and I would go to church.  I needed/wanted/had to be in church that morning.  Desperately.  So Emily and I wake up and although we aren't sure what time it officially is because of the stupid time change, we are pretty certain it's time to go.

The drive was quiet and also included me making a phone call and wasting my alone time with Emily.  But once at church we both walk in and go our separate ways- Emily to her childrens worship and me to my station as a greeter.  Then on to worship.

I was confronted by a fellow mom who is also a homeschooler and she asked about how things are REALLY going.  And before I know it I'm a soppy crying mess dumping all the past weeks frustrations right at her feet..............and we both miss the first part of worship.  She didn't seem to mind.  And her encouragement was spot on and MUCH needed for the moment.

After worship I get Emily from her worship an we deliver boyscout popcorn to fellow friends.  Then we are out the door and I call Ally to see if I can run a quick errand before coming home.

Emily wants to know where we are going out to lunch at.  Because as a family we always go out for lunch after church.  Except this week.  We are not because I have unattended children at home and no husband.  But she is starving, and I have an errand.  So I decide to buy her a happy meal,and she is happy with that.  She eats in the car on our way to the fabric store.

I am teaching sewing at co-op, don't you dare laugh.  It's hand sewing for 1st-4th graders and I think I can do this as it's only for 9 weeks.  So that being said I have supplies to buy.

The store is chaos, and I can't find anything I want and the lady that is supposed to be helping me is having a month long conversation about wooden boxes with another customer and I can't find anything and WILL YOU JUST HELP ME PLEASE!!!

Emily is pointing out this and that, over and over, lots of stuff to look at.

We puruse the clearance Fall stuff- pick out a couple things we don't need but want.  They end up not ringing up the right price so we put them back, and I get super frustrated because REALLY?!?  It's either on sale and with the sign or you screwed up and you should fix it.

Once we get to the check out there are at least 10 people ahead of us and they each have 43 items and the lady ringing up is s  l  o  w  e  r than slow.    And everyone is having some coupon or price issue and we wait and wait and wait.  Until after like 20 minutes another lady finally comes to help check out and we still wait like another 15 minutes. 

We get to the car, Emily had her partially eaten now cold lunch to finish and I am worrying about my other two kids and just really exhausted.  I need to get home and help Ally finish her school work before we leave for church again that evening and I've yet to eat and I'm still needing to prep for co-op tomorrow.

I start the car and head out of the lot and I hear Emily whisper under her breath "Today is AWESOME".

Awesome?  I stopped the car and looked at her and asked her why?  She said getting to go to church with just me, getting to be in joy jammers (our childrens worship team), then lunch, and spending all that time with me in the check out line while we waited- it was all so awesome.

Wow.  Slow down Mynde and take a breath.  I totally was missing out on all the awesome.