What's all the commotion?

What is all the excitement about?  A new baby?  Not near as exciting as a new baby, but a level of childhood enchantment was surely felt as they discovered an old cash register I had purchased to give to somebody for a birthday.  I never seem to be able to hide my treasures well. The squealing was equal to a bunch of teenage girls seeing One Direction live in concert.  The promises made were unparalleled as the joy was intense.  "Mom, we will never ask to watch another movie again!"  "You're the best mom in the world!!!"  Wow.  I should have revealed the cash register years ago.  I always wanted to work at a grocery store just so I could push the buttons and scan items.  I was counting down the days when I was young to when I was finally able to scan and beep at Bogaarts Grocery store in Beloit, Kansas. Sadly, the store is resting in peace.  I have found myself a couple times sitting at the cash register pretending to ring up imaginary customers.  My life would be complete if I could find one of those rubber key covers that protected the keys.  That is a whole new ball game.  Our local Chinese eatery has one and I once secretly reached over the counter and pushed a button when the nice worker retrieved my take out from the back.  It was fun.  Why was I nervous?  #idiot #thatwasjustlastyear

You know what else is cool?  It seems so mysterious how the the manager of a store waltzes forward with the KEY and punches in the CODE when you are returning items.  The key is always gingerly strung up on their bicep by one of those curly, rubber expanding things.   We have "The Manager's Key" also.  Special times.  #whodidIbuythisforanyway? #canyouhashtagonablog?

By the grace of God, I don't usually have a difficult time seeing the beauty in the mundane of my daily life.  I love where I am at.  I love teaching, feeding, reading, and just being with them.  I mostly enjoy just watching them grow.  I know our time together is not long so I really settle my heart with contentment knowing that this is our season to just be together.

So, it was odd for me to wake up today restless.  Upon opening my eyes, I wanted to do a million things today and most of them didn't pertain to our children.   I wanted to paint bedrooms.  I wanted to go shopping. I wanted to clean and have the house stay clean longer than one minute.  I wanted to organize.  I wanted to go thrift store shopping.  I wanted to exercise.  I wanted to go out to eat.  I wanted to meet John for lunch just the two of us.  I wanted to drive to Beloit to see my mother for the day. I didn't want to teach.  I didn't want to feed anybody today.   I didn't want to answer 1.3 million questions.

It really had nothing to do with the kids.  They greeted me cheerfully this morning wanting to know all the details of my bible study.  This was definitely a case of "It is not you.  It is ME."  The problem was me.   John called in the morning and asked how all was going.  I told him about my restless heart.  He reminded me that some days we just have to endure them and make it to the end. It is funny now that everyone is in bed how funny the morning was.  The restless feelings passed quickly and we had a great day together celebrating our Vianney's 5th birthday tonight.  Her birthday is tomorrow, but because it is Ash Wednesday we celebrated tonight.  I wonder what all that restless desire was about?  Why did I wake up with all those desires?  Paint bedrooms in the middle of the winter?

It is always good to remember that all things do pass and how important it is not to react to our fleeting emotions. We have an extra full calendar this week.  I know it was my attempt to not want to face any of the challenges of the week.  Procrastination by distraction.