So it happened again. I got what I wanted. But we'll say that God works in mysterious ways to deliver his tender mercies.
Here's how it happened:
Monday, I spent the whole day cleaning and scrubbing and vacuuming and trying to entertain Rex while doing dishes. Needless to say I didn't get much done.
On Tuesday, we had more of the same. Only on Tuesday I also tried to do a little Valentine's nonsense and get some school work. I also had to go to Young Women's to fill in for someone. By the time we went to bed all I could do was complain to Greg about how I never get anything done. I just wanted to be able to get the house clean and play with my kids. Is that so much to ask? I used to get so bored because I couldn't find enough to do, now I hardly get to play with Rex for 15 minutes between doing dishes, feeding Alice, cleaning up Rex's spilled milk...you know.
So Wednesday, I decided to really put an effort into spending some quality time with my children. We got up on time, got dressed and made it to the library for story time. I did the finger plays with Rex while Alice slept in the stroller. After story time, I made faces at Alice and tried to get her to read stories with me while Rex played on the computer. By this time Alice was getting tired, so we ran a few quick errands and went home. Once we got home, I put Alice to bed and then Rex requested to watch the Barney movie he'd picked out at the library. This was not my plan; watching movies is not quality time. But he really wanted to so I let him. I sat on the couch next to him and paid bills--which was one of the things that needed to get done but that just wasn't getting done. Just as the moving was ending Alice woke up so I fed her and then convinced Rex to join me and Alice outside (it was like 70) to eat Popsicles and read all our library books. We were outside for about 15 minutes when Alice decided she needed her pacifier. And here's where the tender mercy came in: I went to go get her pacifier only to learn that the door was locked. Awesome. I walked around back to try that door, knowing that even if it was unlocked I wouldn't be able to open it as it sticks pretty bad. I tried and failed to open it. I tried to pry open a few windows. Nothing. So we were locked outside with a picnic blanket, a baby blanket, one burp rag, one toy moose, and a huge pile of library books. No phone, no keys, and no neighbors. I knew right then that Wednesday was a tender mercy. I was locked outside with my children. The only thing we could do was play together. So we did. We read all 11 library books 3 times. We played on the swing. We looked for sticks that looked like letters. We threw rocks into the creek. We fed Alice. We sang songs. We played on the swing some more. Around 4:30 (we went outside at 1:45), I decided we should try to call Greg since he'd been working late and I didn't want to be locked out after dark, so we hiked to our closest neighbor's house only to find that they weren't home and to be chased down the drive way by their huge St. Bernard. So we read the library books again. Around 5:30, it was starting to get dark so we went to the back field to look for more neighbors. I could see a development in the distance, but as we made our way back I heard some rustling in the direction of the St. Bernard's house. Not wanting to get caught by him again and this time in a forest, we turned back. By 6, Rex was getting tired and thirsty and hungry (we had not eaten lunch when we went outside) so we played take a nap for a few minutes while I considered our options: Greg still wasn't home and it was getting pretty dark and cold; we hadn't eaten; Rex was crying; I had seen the neighbor's car pull up about an hour before but hadn't been paying attention to see it they had left again. I decided to try the neighbor's again, mostly as a way to distract Rex. I wrapped Alice up in the one blanket we had and put my sweater on Rex and we headed over again, walking ever so slowly so as not to disturb the dog. This time they were home. We called Greg. He was just about to pull into the drive way so we asked the neighbor to watch the dog while we walked down to meet Greg as he walked up to meet us. It was 6:38 pm when we got inside. I offered to make pancakes for dinner. Greg ordered a pizza and even had it delivered. I was so grateful. I got to spend 5 undisturbed hours playing with my kids and I didn't have to feel guilty that I hadn't made any beds or dinner. What a tender mercy.
But it didn't stop there. The next morning, due to a midnight awakening, Rex slept in. I got up with Alice around 8, but by 9, she was back in bed. So I had from 9 to 10:30, when Rex woke up, to do what I wanted. I attempted to get caught up on some school work. Another tender mercy.
But it didn't stop there. Due to another midnight awakening, Rex slept in on Friday too. Alice woke up at 4 to eat but had refused to go back to bed, even though she was tired. By 6:30, Greg decided I'd had enough and got up with her. She fell back to sleep in her swing at the other end of the house. I meant to get up and move the monitor when Greg left for work at 7, but I fell back to sleep for just 5 minutes. Two hours later, I woke up to some slight fussing from the living room where Alice was not sleeping. Oops.
So I got everything I wanted: to spend quality and quantity time with my children; to work on my school stuff; to sleep. Getting locked out wasn't necessarily what I had planned, but God works in mysterious ways. I only wish I'd had my camera with me. (Oh, and then yesterday, Greg spent the whole day with Rex so I could do the taxes. And I nearly finished so Greg finished for me while I was tending to children).
