Newness, Rain and Song

Monday 8/19
Today was low key, with a grocery trip being our big news. I did not feel well at all and even skipped my run.  I also did not clean the house, because if you can't run six miles pushing a 50 pound stroller, you most definitely cannot clean bathrooms.  Thank goodness George got home on time tonight because I could not even make it through bedtime stories because I felt so awful. Went straight to bed with chills. Eek.
Tuesday was a full day.  The LA zoo is great and it is close to home.  George was such a good boy! After his nap we went to Garfield Park for the Oneonta Welcome Picnic.  It was supposed to be a time to meet other families in George's class and to meet the teachers.  Its difficult to meet a person and have a coherent conversation while you both run after your respective three year olds.  Not to mention it was held at a public playground and since I knew not a soul I had no idea who was there for the picnic and who was there just because.  We were supposed to mingle, but that is not my strong suit and since I was flying solo (George was at a dinner meeting) I just plopped down with this one family that looked approachable and sat with them the whole time. They turned out to be a good pick, Zoe has long blonde hair and a bike. George got to get on the motorcycle! He was thrilled, needless to say. Pretty good choice for a first friend there George!

After the zoo and the picnic, George was so tired that he went to bed without me.  A Brown Bear story did the trick (Mom, Dad and Lauren know just how much pull a brown bear story can have- they are magical).  I told him Brown Bear stories are for big boys and if he wanted to hear one, he'd have to go to bed without me. It worked! This is the third time, small victories!

On Wednesday, we called his friend Chase back home on Skype to wish him a happy birthday.  Chase lived across the cul de sac from us and we miss him (and his parents) a ton.  That was a highlight of the day. Then as a reward for his big boy bedtime without me I let him watch cartoons.  I wish I could think of a better reward because a morning of cartoons turns my little angel into a whiney and ungrateful little boy.  When I finally pulled him away from the TV, he cried.  When it was time for lunch, he whined, when it was time for nap, he cried, when he woke up, he whined.  And so on and so forth until I had had enough and took him and Dean on a walk to the playground. He would not play with anyone, he would not share a toy he found on the playground with another boy his age (make friends, George!), he whined for me to play with him and cried when it was time to go home.  I walked home exhausted and defeated.  George and I ate dinner outside on the patio. Well, I ate dinner and George played with his food. He was up and down, here and there. He did everything BUT eat the dinner I had prepared.  It just sat there and got cold. I had no energy left to coerce him to eat. It took him just about an hour to eat just about nothing.  I even made a batch of cookies in the interim because I thought that would brighten my mood.  Usually that helps but today, not so much. Then it was bath time and guess what?! He whined and cried about it!! After I finally got him to bed (fell asleep in his room with him) George was home and I had a terrible headache and an even worse attitude.  I went to sleep pretty soon after and had very strange dreams.  Guess what, George was up at 5:30AM. Thats about an hour or two before he usually wakes up. <I just got up to get a snack and realized I how whiney this post sounds. Pretty ironic but I will get to my point, I promise. Its right around the corner>
Hosea 6:3
"Let us acknowledge the Lord, let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises he will appear; he will come to us like a winter rain, like the spring rains that water the earth"

After that early morning wake up, things start to look up.  Big George doesn't have to leave for work until 7:15 am (laaaate) so he tells me, "Go for a run-I've got him". Bless you, sweet husband, bless you.  And bless you again.  So I left the house around 6:15 and tore down the sidewalk to blow off some steam. Sometimes, well most times, it is hard for me to "shake off" a bad day.  It happened when I was a little girl every time the Heels lost a game, it happened every time I made an error on the softball field, it happened when I felt lonely and unloved in college, and it still happens to me.  I am reminded of Matthew 6:34 "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own"  So maybe I should also cease to worry about yesterday and let it go. Maybe I should leave yesterday's leftovers with yesterday. Who likes leftovers anyway?

Lam 3:22-23 "Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are NEW every morning; great is your faithfulness"

 I wish I could learn to "shake it off" faster and remember God's promises every morning about newness (there are a LOT of promises about newness)  but this morning I was determined to hang on to that bad mood just like always.

So this is funny, I had a song stuck in my head the whole run.  What song, you say? Funny you should ask, what other song than "Zippa de do da, Zippa de a, my-oh-my what a wonderful day, plenty of sunshine comin' my way, zippa de do da, zippa de a, Mr. blue bird on my shoulder....." Yep, that was stuck like a broken record in my head. It was just about to ruin my bad mood.  I would have much preferred something by Alanis Morsette or Kasey Chambers but oh no,  I get the happiest song in the history of songs in melody and lyric.  Yeah, its funny now, but YOU try to be mad with that song in your head. It will make you crazy. Absolutely crazy.  So I get home and tell George about that song (I was actually tried to be mad about it because I was not ready to laugh yet) and we both cracked up.  I just love how God broke that bad mood for me.  He really does make all things new, he can and does come to us like a spring rain that waters the earth.   I should also note here that I'm a firm believer that scripture comes alive in different ways at different times in your life.  I'm not sure I would have ever appreciated Hosea 6:3 as much if I had never lived in California.  It is extremely dry every day. I have not even seen the slightest hint of a raincloud. That may sound wonderful to all of you well watered family and friends with pruny fingers in the south east, but I can assure you, now there is something so appealing about a drenching rain. I miss it, I long for it, I am parched, dried up and get headaches because of all the dust. Thank you Lord for the opportunity to see your scripture in a new light. Thank you for the new song you have put in my mouth (psalm 40:3) and for my husband who cares about me and for laughter and for "plenty of sunshine, comin' my way".