Grey Poop-On...Everything

Isn’t there some kind of saying out there that goes, “Just when you think it can’t get any worse, it does.”?  That lovely quote came to mind this morning while giving the girls a bath.

I was in the process of stripping down my baby, Gabby, while trying to balence her on my knee.  It was at that moment when her cute little bum took my by surprise. If you are familiar with breast-fed babies, think scrambled eggs meets yellow mustard.  THAT was the surprise running down my leg (I apologize if you are now turned off to both of those foods, just trying to help with a mental picture).  This messy river ended in a yellow lake on my freshly washed rug.  This was the rug I had splurged to get a few weeks before because it was so wonderfully soft and the perfect shade for our bathroom.  Well, it’s definitely a unique shade now!

The next trick I had to perform (and I’m thanking the Lord no one was there to see my clumsy gymnastics) was to hop on one foot (the clean one) to the box of wet wipes in the adjoining room.  The wet wipes were attained with a little mishap (translation: losing my balance and my not-so-clean-foot hitting the floor) which was quickly cleaned off the white carpet to prevent permanent memories of this blessed day.

By the time I had returned, a new surprise awaited me. My almost 2-year-old girl, EvaLee, had wiggled out of her diaper in anticipation of taking a bath and had made a not-so-little puddle on the aforementioned sacred rug.  

“Oh, Eva!” I exclaimed loudly, which interested the boys in the other room and they came running to see what all the fuss was about.  Judah ran, full throttle, into the bathroom and yes, onto the rug that was now a mess of…you-know-what.  He backed out quickly when I responded to his intrusion not-so-gracefully, and then he stumbled onto the white carpet of the nursery, leaving little yellow footprints in his wake.

Just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse, I was proved wrong!  What a day this was turning into…and I had only been up one hour!  Let’s see: that means only thirteen more hours until the kid's bedtime.  

Then along came an unexpected surprise (and no, it actually wasn't another mess this time!).  As I hurried past my computer to retrieve extra diapers, I noticed I had a new message. It was a simple little note from someone kind that and I paused to read it during that hectic moment. The only way I can explain what happened next is that the world slowed down, a smile lit up my face and everything fell into perspective again.

The baby was still crying.  EvaLee was still running through the house bare-bottomed and after a morning like that, the Mom-land Security Department had raised bare-bottom status to a threat level RED!  Judah, bless his heart, was wiping off the bottom of his feet while shouting, “Yuk!” and Gideon had retreated to the safety of his room to be an orderly and rule-following first born child!

So nothing had really changed except my attitude.  I had been feeling like a diaper-changing, 24/7-mess-cleaning woman with a discouraged spirit.  But after a word of encouragement and uplifting cheer from a friend, I was renewed.  The noise faded away as a quiet calm settled on my heart.  I remembered WHO I really was, a daughter of the King with a unique calling (including raising little delightful mess makers!) and I had purpose again.  

Whether I can ever eat mustard again though is another story…

I would like to rewrite that old saying, at least for today, “Just when you think it can’t get any worse, God takes us by surprise and makes it better than you could ever imagine.”