He Loves Me

Remember how I didn't get anything for Valentine's Day? Yeah. Me neither.

Yesterday was one of those insane days. I seem to have a lot of those, but yesterday was a special kind of crazy. 

It started off with some regular old house work--"chores" if you will. I knew we had a lot to do to get ready for Sunday. We were planning to host a special Family Home Evening group of Spanish language speakers Sunday night. We also had a potluck after church and lot of things to do to get ready.

Seth was in dire need of a haircut so I left to take him and gave the rest of the family strict instructions to have the front room cleaned up by the time we got back. Lucky for them (but not so lucky for us) they had plenty of time. Three people walked in to the haircut place seconds before us so there were a total of five people ahead of us. We had to wait 45 minutes. I knew going on a Saturday was not ideal but it was the first chance I'd had all week to take him without the other boys in tow.

By the time we got home to our reasonably (but not perfectly) clean front room I had just enough time to iron him a white shirt and jet over to the church to drop him off at a youth activity. 

From the church I headed to the library to return my books and pick up a couple more then home again to resume the housekeeping activities.

I got home and plopped down on the bed to start one of my new library books figuring I could put off some of the necessary preparations for Sunday just a bit longer. Then, David and I got a brilliant idea. Why not undertake a major renovation project even though people were coming to our home to be entertained in less than 24 hours? We're geniuses, I tell you.

We spent the next several hours stripping wallpaper in the boys' bathroom. It was necessary. It had already been peeled in a few places and was coming off on it's own in others and with four boys using that bathroom none of whom have perfect aim--well you get the idea. But, we could have timed it better.

We finished just in time for me to make dinner and get everyone fed and ready for bed. After talking briefly with David and recalling how many people had shown up last time we hosted this group we decided a vegetable tray was in order as well. I sent him off to the store to pick up vegetables, Spackle, primer (did I mention that when we stripped the wallpaper it was just drywall underneath) and Seth from his activity.

I was left to clean up the mess from dinner plus the not so clean kitchen. I still had several things to do before bed and I was beginning to feel like there was no way I'd get them all done. I needed to make dessert for the Spanish group. And we had a potluck after church today so we had to prepare our contributions to that meal as well. 

I still absolutely needed mop my kitchen/dining room floor as well. I don't know why, but I have a strong aversion to mopping. Maybe because it is never easy. It seems I am always chiseling dried cereal or sticky half eaten pieces of hard candy off the floor. I rarely finish mopping my kitchen/dining room in less than an hour even when I do it with the special spatula I have reserved for scraping petrified food off the floor in hand.

It was probably about 9:30 at this point. I was exhausted. I was overwhelmed. I knew I was going to have to get up early for an early meeting at church and that with the time change I was going to get an hour less of sleep anyway. I also knew that I had another good two to three hours of work ahead of me. Then the phone rang. 

"Hi, Sister Dunn. This is the missionaries. We're calling because you signed up to have us over for dinner tomorrow."

Doh.

"I am so sorry. I totally forgot. I'm going to have to cancel." At this point I was fighting tears.

They were so gracious though. (Their moms should be proud). I felt really bad about leaving them without a dinner appointment but there wasn't much to be done about it. I promised them we'd sign up to have them again soon.

Then I called my mom and dad and started bawling.

Have I ever mentioned how much I love my parents? Well, I do. I told them that sane people were going to bed at this time but I had another two hours of work ahead of me at least. My mom reassured me that it would be fine and told me to just mop and go to bed and forget the other stuff. I was worried about the bathroom being all torn apart and she said just lock the door and put up a sign that said "Out of Order". My dad said be sure to make sure the sign was in Spanish though. Then my dad said I could always do what my Grandpa Carter used to do when he had a project under construction. I didn't know what that was, so I asked. Dad said to tape a sign to the wall that said "What the hell are you looking up here for." That is so like my Grandpa.

I busted up. I went from tears to belly laughs just like that and I suddenly, almost magically felt better. That laugh was exactly what I needed. I love my Grandpa Carter so much and even though he died 18 years ago I still miss him a lot. I said goodbye to Mom and Dad feeling much better as David walked in home from the store. 

I brought you these he said and handed me a bouquet of carnations. My husband loves me. 

Just like that: two tender mercies, two evidences of grace, right in a row.

Those two small things--laughing with my parents and a grocery store bouquet buoyed me up and helped me face the things that still needed to be done by myself (while my husband hurried off to the lab at 10:00 at night to feed his cells). 

I mopped (and thought a lot about my Grandpa Carter), made two desserts, finished some cleaning, started the dishwasher and washing machine, showered and finally made it to bed about 1:30 and slept like a log until my ride to my meeting arrived this morning and knocked politely on the front door. I got ready for church in five minutes flat--no exaggeration. I also forgot to brush my teeth until we were pulling out of our neighborhood. Doh, again.

Church was fine. There was plenty of food at the potluck. Tonight, only three people showed up to the Spanish group activity and not one of them needed to use our bathroom so all my worrying really wasn't necessary.

The good news is there is another whole dessert in the fridge that didn't get eaten tonight and which we don't have to share with anyone. 

The other good news is that even though I was really feeling alone and overwhelmed a wise Father in Heaven knew exactly what I needed to help me feel better. He loves me too.