A series of unfortunate events...

Ok, so I'm being slightly dramatic, but at our house tonight, there was a series of unfortunate events. First, 1 out of 5 kids didn't want to finish eating their dinner. Then, when the other kids wanted dessert after completing their dinner, aforementioned kid threw a fit. It wasn't pretty. Then the kids argued about what movie they would watch, what flavor popcorn they wanted with the movie, and continued to argue over seating arrangements. It was actually quite pathetic. But all in good fun.

And talk about fun... When kids went upstairs to brush their teeth and get ready for bed, someone (not that anyone's confessing!) was a little too enthusiastic about using the toilet paper, or maybe they flushed too many times.... I don't know, they're not saying... but the toilet overflowed. Just at the right moment, as I was putting the baby in bed, there were horrific screams coming from upstairs... "Mom! MOM! HELP! COME QUICK! Oh no, it's going to overflow! IT'S OVERFLOWING! Ahhh...!" and so on.

Five minutes, four towels and 1 plunger later: problem solved.

But the fun didn't stop there! As I was helping with bedtime and cleaning up a few last things... a needle, that had somehow been lost and embedded into the carpet, punctured my thumb. It went hard and deep. It hurt. A lot. And it bled. A lot. (But for the record, I didn't cry!) So we talked about first aid while I cleaned up the blood. Someone got me a band-aid, another brought me ice. They were sweet.

All of the above events put together meant that I am getting virtually no down-time tonight. Usually, I crave my regular ME time at the end of every day. I need a little bit of peace and quiet to wind down and process our day, and begin to relax before I am ready to fall asleep. I like to watch a Netflix show, read a book, or spend some time crocheting before bed. But tonight, that isn't going to happen, because my eyelids are about to close, and 4 out of 5 kids are still awake, and they are taking turns coming in and out of my room at random, and it is now 10:30pm.

And you know what? Some days it would really bother me, to not get that alone-time. But today, I don't mind it. I cherish the time I have with the kids (my kids, as well as other people's kids). More and more, I am realizing that my own selfish desires are just that: petty and selfish. Just because *I* want to do something doesn't mean that it's the best thing for me to spend my time doing. Even little things, things that aren't necessarily bad, like playing a game, or finishing that book on my nightstand, are not worth upsetting my kids or losing sleep about. I need to be a good example for these little people.

A friend of mine posted a picture this afternoon that looked something like this: 

She make a joke about it, trying to make light of it. 

Then she said something that hit me: "It's not worth yelling about $3."

She is totally right. I do my fair share of yelling most days. I have been trying to think of ways to curb it and stop it. As a family, the kids and I are memorizing an encouraging Bible verse every week. (This week it was 1 Thess. 5:11) We also listen to only uplifting songs and stories while we're in the car. Most of the time that helps to give us a wider perspective.

So, the series of unfortunate events that occurred at my house tonight... weren't necessarily fun; however, I didn't get too bent out of shape, I didn't yell at anyone (although I did say "OWWW!" when my thumb was sliced open), and I didn't have a little pity-party when I couldn't finish whatever it was that I wanted to do all by myself tonight.

Slowly but surely, I am making progress.

I hope you are too.