single parent sundays-an emotional roller coaster

the day started off fairly well, for us that is... (up!)

my mom was in town & kept the babies at home, so i took just the big boys to church. it's soooo much easier. for one thing, no stroller necessary. :) great word given & a picnic lunch in celebration of father's day. which is where the turn in the day began. i always struggle with holidays on sundays. i mean, it's a family day...but then it's sunday, which for {Matt} means a work day. so i tried to play the "come home with us & have lunch" card, but he felt that he needed and wanted to stay for the lunch. i definitely didn't play my cards right & tried to push my agenda. i mean, really, on father's day {Kristi}, really?! if roles were reversed i would have been out of my mind. thankfully, i married a man who is loving & forgiving. he continually teaches me how to share. so the compromise was we stayed for a little while during the picnic & then went home to have lunch with everyone. and i tried to be on my best behavior and suck up to the amazing father of my children the rest of the day. :) that was part 1... (down!)

part 2 begins after lunch while visiting with my parents, {Auntie Kate} & {Nana Roo}...
{Nana Roo} & {Papa Steve} are in the midst of starting a new business & move...to florida. {Nana Roo} was gone for several weeks and is currently back here continuing to ready her house for the inevitable & yet to be determined moved south. she was telling us about the family that had been to her house on saturday for a 2nd visit and that they were looking at "the other house" that afternoon. we all were hoping for a phone call saying that they would stop by while she was at our house. and sure enough, not 20 mins later, her phone rang. the family didn't love "the other house" and were coming to take a 3rd look!! of course we gathered and said a short but faith-filled prayer they would fall in love with the house & make an offer. about 10:30pm we got a text saying that a verbal offer was made & a contract was coming in the morning. (up! & down once the finality of it sunk in!)

part 3 was "night church" as {Ben} calls it...
i was coordinator for the nursery so i needed to be there about 15 mins earlier than service started. usually that would mean i had to wake boys up from naps, but thankfully they all woke up on their own.  we got an on-time departure in the books thanks to the help of {Auntie Kate} and off we went...into traffic. ugh! so i turned around and went to go another way...even worse traffic!! a normal 15 min car ride turned into 45 minutes. there had been a horrible suburban turned sideways on the bridge accident so we weren't the only ones who were late. everything went smoothly in the nursery that evening, despite being short-handed. and then, during clean up, it happened..."have you seen {Gabe}?" and the panic hit. and before either myself or {Auntie Kate} could move, here came my wonderful husband tightly holding my 2nd born son. he had been found walking into the parking lot. nightmare come true! an unattended 2 yr old wandering amidst a sea of people & somehow makes it outside into the parking lot. insanity. yeah, like i really needed to add that on my bad wife tab of the day, now i'm pushing for mom of the year. plus, it was so humid & sticky and that always makes things worse. (up, then down, then up, then crashing down!)

so much for a nostalgic and loving father's day post, but that's life sometimes. let's say...coming soon...