Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Milk in the Pantry and Peanut Butter in the Refrigerator

Ok, I started writing this about 2 months ago and never posted it, so here it is !!

So, the day starts our fairly normal, actually better than normal. I have really trying to work on my patience lately, or lack thereof. Which is ironic since Jeff's sermon was about patience this last weekend. He said " Patience is............Enduring without Exploding" Wow, I had to write that one down, that his hard, I mean REALLY hard. So, we got to up and to school this morning without any major occurrences, no hissy fits, no yelling and with what I thought was great patience on my part. I even pointed out to Tyler that this morning was different, it was good. He actually said back to me " Oh, I didn't notice anything different" (hhhmmm) Anyway, I get Tanner ready, I am running a bit late but we make it. He has an end of year program at 9:15, where all the classes sing a few songs each. Long story short when they came into the auditorium he saw me, wanted to sit with me, wigged out when I told him to go on stage and then he started slapping me. I sat down to watch Tanner's class sing, with Tanner in my lap. I kept my cool and my PATIENCE, told him I was proud of him for trying. He did stay at school and I went on about my day, this is my last day of total freedom before they are both out of school. I did a few things then decided to go grocery shopping. I don't like going to Wal Mart anymore, they are to busy and I don't care for the entire atmosphere. However, I needed a lot of Non Food items, so I went. I feel like this should about a 5 part story, kind of like Colin and his Pi (read Celeste's blog), but I need closure now :)


I spent about 1 1/2 hours at Wal mart, enjoying my freedom and giggling inside while other people's children were screaming. I decide I better go checkout, I have a time frame I go by on how long it takes me to checkout, load groceries and get back to Tanner by 2:00. OK, Wal Mart , Tuesday, middle of the day, it was so busy. Every lane that I could go in with my heaping basket full of everything under the sun, was packed. I decided to pick the one with the people whom had the least amount of stuff. So, I waited..... and I waited..... and I waited ..... and I waited.


Those of you who shop at Wal Mart will probably know what I mean by the term comparison shopping. People bring ads from other stores and get the same prices at Wal mart. But it has to be the EXACT same thing and there are rules and etc. You have to have the ad, you have to have the item and you have to show each one to the cashier. Then, usually these same people are using coupons... ENDURING WITHOUT EXPLODING, ENDURING WITHOUT EXPLODING. It was getting harder and harder, I mean I was biting my tongue, how inconsiderate of them. I had been in line for 20 minutes already and the 1st "comparison shopper" wasn't done because she was questioning and arguing about the prices, there was another "comparison shopper" behind her. The other lady in front of me was getting mad, the guy behind me was getting mad, I was trying to be PATIENT :).

I finally decided that I had to leave and that I would have to shop another day. As I started walking I saw the manager. I stopped to tell him my dilemma and tried to speak without exploding. He offered to take my cart back to the cooler and hold it for me until I got Tanner and could come back to the store.

I leave.... mind you, I am on FIRE !!! I am late getting Tanner, by only a few minutes. As I am getting him he says " I need to go potty",(this is fairly new so I am excited) I say "OK, lets go" So we went into the bathroom in his class and he says " I have to poop" I say " GREAT" . He sits down and I kneel in front of him to help him point "himself" down as to avoid being sprayed, and before I know it we are both soaked. I get his bag change his clothes wipe myself off and run to the car. Mind you this is after 2, and Tyler gets out of school at 3. I drag Tanner back to the store with me, walking into Wal Mart with a 3 year old is an adventure in itself. I had forgotten something and ran with him to get it. My basket was so full that it had not a spot for Tanner. Tanner says, " I wanna walk like a big boy" Well, I have no choice in the matter unless I put him on my shoulders. Well, those of you who know sweet little Tanner know that he is very adventurous and loves to "explore". If I tried to hold his hand I could not push the cart and he would scream bloody murder. Every time I let go he ran or stopped or just disappeared.

I was quickly losing my patience.... ENDURING WITHOUT EXPLODING !! YA WHATEVER. I am trying to remember that there are video cameras and I needed to wait to beat him until I got to the car... HAHA :)

By the time we got what I needed and about 5 things Tanner had to have , we headed to check out. We checked out fairly quickly and I realized that it was almost time for Tyler to be home from school. I race to get home and my carpool friend is pulling into the drive with Tyler, WOW, good timing.
The point to the story is that when I finally got all the groceries in the house and started putting them away, I noticed something was out of place.
Instead of milk on the top shelf, there was peanut butter. I do not keep my Peanut Butter in the fridge. So I opened the pantry and what do you know. In the place where my peanut butter usually is, I find milk. There was only a little left, no biggie.

But, I found it funny and I laughed and I laughed. I thought, "wow does God have a sense of humor today". He knew that I was going to have a crappy day and he had prepared me that morning. He knew that when I got home that day I would need a good laugh and it worked.

So, next time you have one of those days, look for the peanut butter in the refrigerator and remember that God is in involved in every detail of everyday of your life !

2 comments:

Jennifer and Michael said...

I LOVE that story and I so needed it today!!! I even went to my fridge to see if there was peanut butter in there. There isn't because we are out of peanut butter, but God sent me your story instead. I am glad that you posted it now, because two months ago I may not have needed it like I do right now. BIG SMILE!!

Andi and Michael said...

GREAT story! I'll be looking for the little laughs now.