The Small Stuff

My husband is not a morning person. And since he is the other half that donated genetic material to our offspring, it is no wonder that half of our children are the same way. This equation makes the 9:00am church schedule virtually impossible to be on time to.

We try. We really do. It is even one of our family goals for the year with great rewards promised at the end...but we are failing.

Miserably.

Like today.
8:00- I am ready. I make the rounds softly speaking to all sleepy heads that it is time to get up and get ready for church and for Ashton: he needs to shower and now is the time to do it.
8:15- All church clothes are laid out, but there are no bodies awaiting them to clothe, so I make the rounds again, speaking loudly now, and gently shaking blanketed bodies. Frustration is setting in.
8:30- I have Emma ready and start getting her breakfast. Dallin is almost ready. There is no movement from the other bodies. I start speaking very loudly now, giving time frames, and urging them to get a move on.
8:45- Church bags are in the van. Dallin and Emma are ready to go.
8:46- I am yelling now and my frustration is increasing.
8:50- Ashton passes me in the hall on my way to dump Ben out of bed, he tells me he is heading for the shower. I tell him, "I won't be here when you get out because I got up and got ready on time and I am not going to be late."
8:51- I start to dress a 5 1/2 year old rag doll Benjamin amidst his protests and whines making me increasingly more & more frustrated.
9:01- We are late. And now I'm mad.
9:15- We arrive at church, sit in the foyer, and listen as we miss the last of the passing of the sacrament.

When we finally file in to take our seats in the overflow, I am hardly in the mood or have the spirit being in church requires. My foul mood is only increased by Ben's complaints that he is hungry. I probably not so nicely told him if he would get up when he was told to he could have had breakfast. But being the good mother I am, suspecting that this might happen, I pulled out the pretzels and Reese's Puffs in baggies I had packed. Realizing that this was the only food available he had a meltdown and proceeded to scold me for not bringing any bread for him. Perhaps, I'm not as good of a mother that I thought I was; I can't even get church treats right.

In the middle of his berating speech, Emma & Ashton spotted the Reese's Puffs, only Emma didn't want to share with Ashton. Trying to shut out Ben's incessant and scolding whine, I calmly tried to tell her that she needed to share them with Ashton. She didn't like this sharing idea, so in true 2 year old fashion, she swung her arm in a wide sweeping motion sending the cereal flying in a 4 foot semi-circle across the shiny gym floor starting at the base of my chair.

I had had it.

Richard looked at me and I looked back at him. I would pay money to be able to see the expression that was on my face.

Embarrassment, anger, defeat, frustration, or caution: volcano ready to explode. Whatever it was, Richard quickly took Emma away from me and out into the hall for a time out. One down.

But there was still Benjamin and that whine.

I wondered why I even came to church.

I tried to explain that the pretzels were all I had now and that I had come to church to listen to the speakers, not to hear him whine, so to please, for the love of Pete, STOP.

But the whine continued.

It continued through most of Sister Randle's testimony and then became spotty through Sister Giles. It was spotty enough that I heard Sister Giles testify that she knew that "Families are Forever".

Forever felt really long this morning. And frankly, not that tempting.
An eternity of whine about Wonder Bread?
No thanks. I think I will pass.

But then Brother Stephenson got up to the podium and I found my reason for being in church today. He talked about being overwhelmed with all the little things of life and finding perspective in the scriptures. He said that they helped him realize the big things that seem to matter so much now are really small in the scheme of things.

Kind of like this morning.

One really bad morning in the middle of so many other good things that my family provides for me is not worth wishing it all away. I was struck with the saying, "I never said it would be easy, I only said it would be worth it."
So I've decided maybe forever sounding like a long time really is a good thing.

Just as long as there is no whine involved...

... and Reese's Puffs are still welcome.