Back in the Swing of Things with a Thankful Heart

All school year long, I wait for summer. That's when I'll have a lot more time to get things done around here, I convince myself. Then summer comes, and we go on vacation. Not only do I things not get done, but I fall even more behind. Finally, I get caught back up to our normal chaos, and I have pretty much the whole month of August to get stuff done. But I don't. Why? Because I have so much time, and it's just way too easy to procrastinate.

So, this year, I actually looked forward to the school year, as I guess I just do better with a more organized schedule. So far, so good. Since last week was Labor day, this is our first full week of school. Yesterday was our first day of co-op. It was by far the most productive day I've had in a long time.

We work up about 7:00 and had family Bible time with my husband.

Then it was off to co-op, for a 50-minute biology class, which is 45 minutes away! It's our first year, so I didn't know the way, and only knew of one person we know who would for sure be there. (Actually, she's the reason we are willing to drive 45 minutes!)

We got within 4 minutes of the church where the co-op is located and we heard a loud, grinding sound. It was our tire. I realize I normally communicate with my friend with facebook messenger, so I don't have her actual number. I turn on my data and it doesn't work. We were literally out in cornfields. I realize that might not be a big deal for some, but I am a suburbanite. Thankfully, I still had an email pulled up from the co-op leader because I needed the church address to put in my GPS. She had given out her number in case we had any questions. I had a question. Can someone rescue us? LOL

The answer was yes, and my friend was there in minutes. We got in her car and got there with time to spare. (No pun intended.) Since she is the teacher, I guess we couldn't have been late, anyway. :)

On my way in, I saw the one other person I realized I knew there. I asked if she could drive me back to my van. She thankfully had nowhere to be the first hour, so she took me. I then called AAA. It seemed like just minutes before the AAA guy arrived and fixed the tire. I hopped in my van and followed my friend back to the church where my kids were still in class for five minutes. Then we uneventfully drove our 45 minutes home, but not without our traditional first day of co-op Taco Bell. I skipped that, and got my free large mocha frappe from McDonald's. We were home at 11:01.

Once home, I made up a menu for the week and Bear and I headed out to Aldi. We came back and put the perishable groceries away and had to run out the door for the orthodontist at 2:30. We left a little early because my son wanted me to drop him off to get his hair cut. (That didn't work out, as the place was closed, so he went to visit his grandma who lives just a few blocks away.) Bear got to her appointment in time and is now sporting some very painful rubber bands. This is the first time she's been in pain, so she really can't complain.

Then we had to get home and get dinner in the oven before heading out to her very first piano lesson at 4:30. After that, we were finally home for the evening, or so I thought. After eating and helping my husband pull together what he needed for his first post-summer men's Bible study, all I could think of was relaxing. That's until my older daughter, Princess, asked if I wanted to go to the gym. Of course, I said yes.

It was a busy day, that didn't start off so great. Honestly, though, I couldn't have orchestrated getting my tire fixed so painlessly if I had tried. I told my kids that I really felt God's protection and provision much greater because of the mini-trial we went through. Had we gone to co-op without a hitch, I might not have appreciated it as much. I was truly thankful, and getting that flat ended up being a blessing because it truly reminded me how much God loves me, and also that, as my mom always says, God is in control.

Blessings!