| This morning after an early Royal Wedding Party at Anne Golliher's house, I came home (to my awesome husband who waited for me to return before leaving for work), packed up the kids and drove up to Plymouth to collect an instep bike trailer off Craigslist. It was easy to find, the guy we bought it from was normal and nice, and the trailer was just beautiful -- way better than the first one we purchased earlier this week (we need two for 4 children) and exactly the same price! Then, because it was a beautiful day, I had packed lunches and we headed over for a hike at the Eloise Butler Wildflower Park off Theodore Wirth Parkway. I love this park -- April/May is the best time to visit for the flowers and birds. The paths are well-tended and easy for little people. It is fenced in and just the right length for a good walk with the kids. And the people at the little nature center there have always been exceptionally friendly and happy to take their time talking with children. After hiking about the trails and spending some fun time with the two ladies at the nature center, we headed over to the brand-new playground just up the road a piece. After some play time, everyone was getting hungry, so I got them all back into the van, handed out lunches, and made our way through downtown traffic back home. Miraculously, all the kids stayed awake! Hooray, I said to myself. Then it became apparent naps were in order. I looked around for my phone...wait a minute. Where's the camera. Oh no. I searched the diaper bag, the lunch cooler, the car. I knew exactly where they were left. On the sidewalk next to the playground. I had set them down when Dietrich had a small trauma attack due to his band-aid falling off his big toe (a particularly nasty injury from earlier in the week). Blast. Well, after calling my husband to panic about the horrible timing of this whole thing and bemoan my ubiquitous incompetence, I loaded all the kids back into the van to drive the hour round-trip back to the park. Mercifully -- Hallelujah -- the camera and phone were sitting right there in their red case waiting for me. I grabbed them, headed home, and -- wonder of wonders! -- all the kids stayed awake for a SECOND TIME. This never, ever happens. So we came in, did our regular naptime routine. Everyone (aside from Atticus who no longer naps) had decent sleep and woke in time for Daddy's return from work. Ta-da! Great day!! This week alone, we purchased two used trailers, conditioned the outdoor furniture to use for the season, put up the chimes in the front garden bed, got two long-term curtain problems taken care of (functionally AND beautifully enough for my taste), finally ordered some recycling bins to make a better indoor station (something that has eaten at me for years) and got a nice start to the season's yardwork. And now it is Brad's birthday weekend -- with lots of fun things planned and some empty spaces too -- so we don't have to rush the whole time either. Hooray! It seemed like a heavy, slow, difficult week yet God brought good to us and from us by giving good fruit to our faithful "inching-along" work (drudgery?) this week. Thank you, God...You keep surprising me with the most lovely gifts. |
