Laughing with God

    I feel like I could start all my blog posts the same way, “It was one of those days” ….  It seems it is always “one of those days” around here.  Everyday I feel like I am dealing with complete commotion and disarray.  My life is just one monotonous but overwhelming day after another…laundry, dishes, whining, dirty diapers, bickering, overflowing garbage, stray socks all over the house, library books always underfoot, lost shoes, boo-boos, snacks, dripping sippy cups, math lessons that trigger tears, spelling tests that no one wants to take, drawing paper cluttering our school table, cheerios crushed all over the kitchen floor, question after question after question after question,

“mommy, what should I do for grammar?”,
“mommy, does this shirt match?”,
“mommy, can I have a cookie?”,
“mommy, can I play a video game?”,
“mommy, what should I draw a picture of?”,
“mommy, can I play a video game?”,
“mommy, can I go outside to play?”,
“mommy, what are we doing tomorrow?”,
“mommy, can I play a video game?”,
“mommy, what’s for dinner?”,
“mommy, do I have to eat that?”

Sometimes I feel like I am expected to make every decision, for every person in my house, and yet, at the same time, it seems no one ever listens to me!  It is no wonder I feel emotionally exhausted at times.  It is no wonder I sometimes think about finding a place to hide out for a few hours- all alone!
    Here is the latest example of “one of those days” at our house.  Tim and I were trying to get the kids, and ourselves, ready for Mass.  He was changing his clothes.  I was washing crusty food out of the baby’s hair.  The other children were playing loudly and life was in its normal state of mass chaos at our house.  After cleaning the baby up, I rifled through the basket of hair bands and barrettes that I keep on the counter in the bathroom to see if I could find something to put in her hair.  In the bottom of the basket, underneath all the hair-spray-encrusted, sticky-from-gel accessories I found a half eaten cracker.  “Look what I found Tim,” I said holding it up. 
    “I guess that’s pretty normal for our life,” he answered smiling.   And then the baby took the cracker from my hand and put it promptly in her mouth.  I, too, smiled.  As usual, how right Tim was.  My life can pretty much be summed up by that half eaten cracker in the bottom of the barrette basket.  Crazy, out of control, a little bit ridiculous.  I am pretty sure God is laughing at my life most of the time.  Every once in a while I can see the humor in it as well.  And sometimes, the best thing, the only thing I can do to stay sane and rational, is just to stand there and laugh along with Him.