The Day You’re Handed

“Like” if you’ve ever had a morning like this…

Husband, leaves the house early for a meeting. I shower, and get the kids moving. That shower signified the end of my normal morning routine.

Son, refusing to use the potty for his solid deposits, is in a pull up and must wear said pull up to school. He’s upset that this bluff calling has resulted in Mom actually following through on her threat. Mom reminds son that big boys don’t poo poo in their pants and when you do that you show Mom you aren’t ready for big boy underwear. We discuss this at length and eventually get his shorts over the pull up.

Daughter is dressed – Mom is dressed and we three head down stairs. The potty talk put me behind schedule. Make –up will have to wait.

Breakfast for kids: yogurt, fruit, homemade cinnamon roll (I baked Pillsbury on Sunday, don’t be impressed).

Phone call from husband– boss has decided to change his presentation and would like PowerPoint set up at lunch meeting (approximately two hours from now). Sarah has to pull presentation off of home office, trying to find out if they have equipmen at lunch location, children need to get to preschool. Still no make-up on.

I’ve set the keys down somewhere and can’t find them. I ask my six year old to pray that Jesus will help Mommy find the keys. I’ve looked in the fridge, the bathroom, and emptied my purse, three times.

Host for lunch is slightly panicked. He doesn’t want the boss to be off message. This is code for, “We don’t want your boss to tell us how terrible the economy is or that taxes are about to get jacked through the roof thanks to some of the President’s policies– we just want him to talk foreign policy.” More phone calls – working through whether I can drive to Houston before lunch to set up this equipment. Must get children to school before I can do anything. KEYS FOUND!

Children in car and on our way to preschool, I remember that on the way, I need to put gas in the car – I was running late last night and forgot. Huh, that’s odd, the neighbor four doors down has two Entergy trucks in the drive way, a police officer, and men in white hazmat suits. Note to self, call the Sheriff’s office later.

Stop at the gas station, I am paying with cash, everyone out of the car. Everyone back to the pump. Pump won’t operate properly, everyone back inside the store. Sure kids– you can have a juice from the case, you’ve been great listeners. Kid’s want a red juice, the kind that stains, sure, I’m wearing a white shirt, let’s live on the edge. Everyone back to the pump, gas is now flowing. Still no make-up on.

We get to preschool. I brief son’s teacher on the called bluff, she backs me up 100%. I am so excited about Meet the Teacher tonight – you bet I’ll be back here at 5:30 p.m. for that! This will be the first of two meet the teacher events in the next 48 hours.

Phone call from husband, telling me I am going to need to leave the office by 10:30 a.m. to get to the Galleria. I finally get to the office. Host for lunch has called four more times.

I finally put on make-up while on a conference call discussing message for lunch. If you aren’t in the messaging business imagine getting dressed for a rodeo and then finding out on the way there, the event is actually a formal ball. That’s what it’s like to find out your presentation has to be completely reworked.

Husband talks to boss, explains jitters host has, boss agrees to stick with foreign policy talk. I do not need to drive to the Galleria. Good news.

Neighbor calls to ask me if I know about the police presence at the neighbor’s house. I mention I noticed something but don’t know what’s going on.

I open the morning paper and read that a bust is underway in Spring, Texas. A Vietnamese pot growing crime ring has purchased 29 homes in the $300k-400k range to act as grow houses. I read, “The source said the houses pose safety hazards because the suspects did their own electrical work. Each room has their own lighting system, their own timers,” the source said. “They set up their own grids and they bypass the electric – steal it basically. If one catches on fire, other houses could catch fire.”

Well, that’s nice and explains why Entergy and the police were in the neighborhood. Funny, I’ve only seen an Asian man there once or twice, maybe he’s not a part of the crime ring, maybe this is all a coincidence. Here’s where attorneys would interject the word “allegedly” every few spaces. Neighbor calls again, she’s just spoken to the DEA and confirmed our suspicions. You want to know something, ask a Mom in The Woodlands. They know everything – and what they don’t know they can find out.

It’s now 11:45 a.m. I still have about 7 hours to go in this day. This is not at all the day I had planned, it was the day I was handed. The next time you get handed a day you weren’t expecting, remember Psalm 139. The whole chapter is a keeper – but when I am in the thick of the unexpected—I remember the first five verses and take comfort in the knowledge that nothing is unexpected to our Savior.

“Lord, you have examined me and you know me. You know everything I do; from far away you understand all my thoughts. You see me, whether I am working or resting; you know all my actions. Even before I speak, you already know what I will say. You are all around me on every side; you protect me with your power. Your knowledge of me is too deep; it is beyond my understanding.” (Good News Translation)