Plan "A"

Through the chaos…

Isaiah 40:11

“… He gently leads those that have young.”

Today (like many days before) has been full of the unexpected.   Early this morning, I was awakened to the sound of Zachary escaping from his room.   Thankfully, his door creaks when it’s opened, so I jumped up out of a dead sleep and hurried to put him back in bed before he could find his way outside or float his bath toys in the toilet or eat the dog food — all realistic possibilities for this kid.

But as soon as I touched him, I realized it.   He’s SOAKED in urine.   Where is the diaper that can accomodate this boy’s output???   Once in the nursery, I could see in the dim sunrise that Philip was also awake so I leaned over to hug him and that’s when it became obvious that HE too was soaked!!   About 5 seconds later I realized that the sheets were wet, the mattresses were wet and, because Zach had decided to sit on the floor and play with his train set, the carpet was wet too.

Quickly I had two naked toddlers in front of me ready for a bath and a giant pile of stinking laundry bundled up to be washed.

I felt understandably gross so as we came into the bathroom, I went to wash my hands and then remembered…. the water in the sink was turned off since we’re replacing the faucet.   No big deal…. I’ll wash my hands in the tub.

Quickly, the boys were situated in their bath with toys bobbing all around them.

So I stepped into the kitchen, turning on the kettle for their instant oatmeal breakfast.  And there I saw the note left by my teenage daughter who’d already gone in early for school.

“Mom…. please wash my duvet and comforter ASAP.   The dog barfed on them.   Thanks!”

OK…. keep it together… keep it together.

I went back to the bathroom where the boys were happily splashing each other so I grabbed the pile of nasty laundry to drop it off in the laundry room.  There  I was greeted with the aforementioned dog-vomit pile of laundry.   So, I opened the washer lid to move the clean stuff into the dryer, but instead, I saw YESTERDAY’s white load floating helplessly in standing water.   Yep.   The washer’s broken.

What’s more, I realize that I’m scrunching up nose up from some other assaulting smell…… a dead mouse.   Not sure where he is, but his fragrance is unmistakable.

I’ll deal with the laundry room later and the dead mouse later.   I’ve got to rush back to P & Z.   They’re happy so I start pouring baking soda all over the mattresses to draw out the moisture and I start scrubbing the carpet with ammonia water and I open up the window to get some breathable air!!

The boys are singing and laughing and I poke my head into the bathroom just in time to see Zachary dumping the shampoo into the water and squishing the bar soap in his fat hands – coating them both in a gray, sticky film.

Within 20 minutes the whole caper was (mostly) under control and the guys were piled on my big bed watching Veggie Tales while I continued to manage the collateral damage from the morning.

Truth is:  I was rattled and rushed and one 20 minute episode of toddler insanity threatened to undo years of ‘spiritual maturity’.   But the other truth is:   God gently leads those with young.   And I’m in that group… again.

Things change from day to day around here, but ‘the steadfast love of the Lord never changes’.   Good thing.    I need the powerful ‘one-two punch’ of His gentle leading and His steadfast love to get me through each day.

As the day moved on, God’s gentle leading was more obvious.   Probably because my ‘chaos meter’ had returned to a more normal place, restoring my normal vision to see such things.    He was leading me gently as I taught spelling while making snacks for the crew .   He was leading me gently through the rain as we ran errands all over town.    He was leading me gently on a gray afternoon as we sipped hot chocolate and began our annual reading of “Stories of the Pilgrims”.   He was leading me gently to find the Ugandan birth certificates that I thought we’d lost.  (whew!)

In countless ways throughout each day, He is present in my mundane — leading me gently.

(Hat tip to my friend, Rachel for reminding me of this great verse!)