Getting Settled

I realized when I was just reading my last post that I need to post about the sale of our house. I'll try to do that next time. We're supposed to close the 21st so please pray everything goes off without a hitch. Thanks!

I wrote this the other day because I didn't want to forget our first day or so in our new home:

When we pulled into our driveway in Cedar Creek, TX, Sunday night, Aubrie wanted to know where are animals were. In fact, the next few times we pulled into the driveway, she asked again about our animals and where they were. She’s apparently very excited about the prospect and has been paying attention! (By the way, don't know if I've mentioned that the place we're renting has 5 acres, goat fencing and a chicken coop so we're all set.)

Monday was supposed to be cleaning day since the moving van was coming with our stuff on Tuesday. I say “supposed to be” because like most best-laid plans, not much cleaning took place. We were in need of quite a few things from WalMart so we headed off to Bastrop which is about ten minutes away. Now, I wasn’t sure if there was a WalMart, let alone where it was. So, I pulled into McDonald’s, laptop in hand to get on the internet to find out. Todd asked me later why I didn’t just go inside and ask someone, but I really didn’t want to hear the possible answer that there wasn’t one. Turns out, the WalMart is just about a block away from McDonald’s so I was really glad I opted for the internet; that would have been too embarrassing.

It’s been a while since I’ve been to the store with all three kids, and like I said, we needed quite a few things. I was worn out when we were done. We were headed home when we realized we needed to look up a couple of more things online. Back to McDonald’s we go. This is where things really started to go awry. My car wouldn’t start after we were done. So, the nice people next to us give us a jump and back to WalMart we go to have the car looked at. I was pretty proud of myself (first sign of trouble; what's that about pride and a fall?) Now, I had already eaten at McDonald’s the day before (which is difficult for me in the first place), but that’s all there was at WalMart. While they’re checking out the car, we eat our fish and chicken. We then find out that they are not able to detect anything wrong with the car. (Jill, you will remember that this happened once before at church.) However, the nice man at WalMart said that the car was starting now. Off we go again.

I unload the stuff at home only to find out that several of the things I bought were the wrong size – mainly different light bulbs we needed and some sheets. Now this seems minor enough, but it was enough to get me near the edge. What happened next sent me over. We (okay, I) decided that it would be a great idea to put all the girls in the same room to sleep so that we could have a play/school room for them. This was the first sleep time that I had put them all together. Not such a brilliant idea, but remember, I went to WalMart w/three children. I have no brain power left. Skip ahead about half an hour. Aubrie locks the door to the girls’ bedroom, and I can’t get it open. Neither can Emma. I lose it now. There is screaming (I’m sad to say) on my part, tears on theirs, and I call Todd to ask him when he is coming home. While the girls are upstairs not getting a desperately needed nap, I am crying, cleaning the kitchen and wondering how long it takes to get from Buda to Cedar Creek. Meanwhile, the girls are not getting along and Jessie scratches Emma’s face – looks like she was in a fight with a cat. Lovely. I'm now feeling like the worst mom ever. Ever.

Anyway, in the midst of my meltdown, I thought about Africa. I thought about how much more stressful the days’ events would have been in a different culture, in a different language (that I wouldn’t know very well, if at all), where there is no WalMart (not that I'm a particular fan of WalMart; it's just so good and cheap). I have to say, and not in a trite way at all, that the last of my Africa grief is gone. I am now very content to allow the Lord to work out His plans for our future in His timing. And that, despite the days events, was very valuable to me.