Stewardship Sunday: Mothers Day Edition

Happy Mother's Day! And Happy Sunday!

It's that day where I look back at the gifts I was given during the past week. There was one I really wanted to return:  strep throat. The girls and I both had it. I do have to say that amoxicillin and penicillin are great gifts. As is a large urban healthcare practice that can schedule 3 people to be seen, last-minute, with almost-back-to-back appointments. With a pharmacy downstairs. It truly is a great gift. 

I spent most of the week grumbling about my fate. The girls did not seem to feel as bad as I did, and certainly didn't think they needed to sleep as much as I did. Thursday, I took the day off from work and sent the girls to preschool. I caught up on sleep and housework. The week got a little better. Pastor was a last-minute late-night houseguest. Life felt a little more normal. (Don't ask me why Pastor dropping by made me feel more normal, but it did. It really isn't a normal thing at all. Whatever.) I had a PT eval for my gimpy back on Friday. BestestHusband started to put in the garden. And ran out of space. So ordered more soil to be delivered to make it bigger. And tried to move a giant rock. (The rock deserves its own blog post.) HeyMama and I made bread. She made her own loaf, and it turned out quite well! Preschool had a Mother's Day Tea for all of the moms. It was lovely. And then the weekend came along, and we were all feeling a little better, and the weather is fantastic. BestestHusband took the dogs for a vet checkup and ran errands yesterday, and the girls and I spent the morning hanging out at a friend's yardsale down the street. And scored a large swimming pool to use as our new sandbox!!! BestestHusband ran more errands with the girls, and I sorted through too-small and too-big clothes in the basement to piece together a Spring/Summer wardrobe for the girls. And today we put aside the ToDo list and had a lovely Mother's Day. 

We avoided the chaos of Lilac Sunday and had a picnic on the quiet side of the Arboretum with great friends (and our goddaughter!) We sorted through baby clothes to find a Spring/Summer wardrobe for our chubby-thighed little darling of a goddaughter. We were reminded of how much we'll miss them when they move in a few months. (Sigh.) BestestHusband organized the whole thing. I just dug out the picnic quilts. Did I mention that the weather was perfect?

My Mother's Day gifts. 

Ok, so let's talk about what I did with my gifts this week.

Patience:  Total fail all around. The next time the girls and I both get sick at the same time, we need to find someone else to take care of them. It is necessary to have more patience than a 2 yr old to take care of a 2 yr old. And I did not. 

M&Ms:  We have peanut M&Ms in the house. Bad stuff. My self control was as weak as my patience.

Money:  I'm shopping for summer shoes for all of us right now. It's necessary, but painful. I picked up some of the clothes I took to the seamstress to get altered. Not cheap, but I have 2 more garments in my closet that I WANT to wear. I'm trying to ignore the price tag on BestestHusband's trip to BJ's yesterday. It was record setting. But not my fault.

Food waste:  I did relatively well, because I didn't want to cook, and therefore didn't make too many leftovers or try ambitious recipes. We did throw out 2 full giant pitas. The mold was white. I missed it until the last minute. But before eating them, thankfully...

This week, I need to amp up the patience and fun to try to balance out the misery of the past week. The process of looking for life's small joys never ends, and I'm ready to step up to the plate for another week.

HeyMama made the little loaf in the middle!