Calgon take me away...

My dishwasher has been broken for about a week.

Now, I realize this is a total first world problem, and for over half of our marriage we did not even have a dishwasher in our house, and for MANY years we didn't even have a garbage disposal. Believe me when I say I do not take this luxury for granted at all! If I ever find myself complaining about loading/unloading our dishwasher, I immediately stop myself and thank God that He's blessed us with a house with one. 

So, like I said, our dishwasher has been broken for about a week, meaning it has significantly increased the amount of time I spend cleaning up the kitchen. I found myself grumbling big time over this task this morning...

Gabriel has also entered this lovely stage where he throws everything on the ground at the dining room table. Today, it was his milk cup, and then his dry cereal. When I got him down to have him clean it up, he stepped on a bunch of the cereal, so you can imagine what my kitchen floor looks like.  I say "looks" in present tense, because while it is almost lunch time, the breakfast mess is still adorning the floor and countertops, because Annie started crying, so washing those dishes and scrubbing that floor obviously hasn't happened yet.

Next up, Annie was still crying, so while trying to rock her to sleep, Gabriel took advantage of mommy being busy and tried to unscrew the knobs off of the dresser drawers and bathroom doors,

pull the sequins off my flip flops,

 and pull the carpet up with his shovel. Then there was a round of dirty diapers, in the midst of the screaming, so I took a moment to exit the room, saying aloud, "Calgon, take me away!" While breathing in a deep breath.

And then I stopped. What does that really mean anyway? 

I felt the Holy Spirit nudge me.

If I weren't here, where would I be?

My mind immediately transported to the call center I worked at after I graduated from college. It was during those days when we were so desperately trying to get pregnant, and I would beg the Lord every day to remove me from a job that I hated. My heart was not in the work field-my heart was at home...and yet, I had no reason to stay at home at that time.

And then the Lord gave us Lucy...

and Gabriel...

and Annie.

And in that brief moment, I stopped myself like I so often do when I'm loading/unloading the dishwasher, and I thanked the Lord for the chaos--the dirty dishes in my sink, that represent a house full of precious people I get to feed; the crying babies I get to hold and soothe and devote my life to right now that represent an abundantly multiplied answer to my prayers...The days may often seem long, but the years are so short, so I refuse to take these long days for granted!

As I entered back into the battlefield (AKA my bedroom full of tears and destruction! Lol), Gabriel ran up to me and gave me a hug, I picked up Annie and placed her on the bed and she stopped crying, Gabriel climbed up next to her, and then I was able to snag these photos... a way to capture these blessings who smile and snuggle and make me smile in the process.

Now, keep in mind, Annie is back to crying again, and Gabriel is back to trying to take apart everything in our bedroom (future engineer??:) but in this moment I will choose joy and contentment and thankfulness...and a grande-decaf-nonfat-no whip-pumpkin spice latte from Starbucks (because then I won't have to wash another coffee mug by hand;-)