The Enthusiasm of a 3.5-Year Old

I wanted to post a picture of my daughter Olivia just before we were to attend her first swimming lesson at a local school's swimming pool. She has been talking non-stop about swimming lessons for the past month looking forward to this day. The class being offered is a parent-child class, and Olivia gave me the privilege of taking her into the pool. She woke up this morning constantly asking Kim if it was time to go. She wondered if she looked cute enough in her piggy tails. She asked who her teacher would be many times. Finally, Olivia and I were able to get in a pool that had Olivia shivering, and we worked on floating on her belly and her back. Her teacher Stephanie did a great job making the experience fun having us sing fun songs and play simple games that brought smiles and laughs between the teeth chattering. Olivia and I are really looking forward to next week's lesson.

Perspective

My wife has blogged about how Meijer's drives her crazy at MyCupOverflowing, and now it is my turn to share my Meijer's story. For those of you that do not have a Meijer's store near you, this store is a Walmart Supermart before the Walmart Supermart even existed. Whenever Kim and I take our 5 1/2 and 3 1/2-year old daughters there, our patience seems to be tested.

This recent trip was no exception. The trip started off ok as we approached the store. We headed for the back of the store to bring our pop cans to the deposit machines. An ominous foreshadow of the rest of the trip came from the machine we were using as it made an EHRRRRR sound everytime I put a can into the machine. The machine eventually puked and we had to wait for another machine. From there, we headed toward the produce section. My daughter Kelsey loves to push the cart and preceded to ram the cart into the back of my ankle. I gritted my teeth and informed her that I would now be pushing the cart. I grabbed two cases of Diet Coke and placed it in the cart. Then my cell phone rings. Kim is calling and is asking me to pick up some eyedrops for her allergies that her eye doctor is suggesting she take. Are these eyedrops right next to the Diet Coke in the store? Nooooooo! They are located on the complete opposite corner of the store. To top it off, we had to pass through the toy section to get there. Both my daughters felt obligated to inform me of some of their heart desires for Slip-n-Slides and pools as we passed through this Land of Temptation. We managed to make it through without making any major purchases, we picked up the eyedrops and picked up where we left off in the food area of the store.

After caving to Diego Yogurt cravings and wiping multiple tears of my youngest as the cart rolled over her flip-flops as she walked alongside the cart, we finally were ready to check out. This may sound like I should be seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, but past experiences have shown me that this part of the shopping experience can be the worse. "Kelsey, stop leaning against the railing!" Olivia, put the eggs down, NOW! "I know your trying to help, but let me put that on the conveyor." "Ok, fine! Here are four pennies! Go ride the horse!" After waiting in line, the checkout lady passe along the following data written in the finest print on the sales flyer: "You need 3 cases of Diet Coke to get the advertised deal."

Biting my tongue, the three of us make our way to the back of the store to get that 3rd case. I began joking with my girls saying that we might have to live at Meijer's forever. My Olivia then suggests that from now on, maybe Mom had better do the shopping at Meijer's. We once again returned to the checkout line, paid our penance, and looked to break out of this crazy place. Olivia failed to learn her lesson from earlier, and the cart rolled over her foot and flip-flop right in the middle of the main throughway in the parking lot.

Kim got a good laugh when I shared my traumatic story with her. Why do I share this story with any of you that may read this? Sometimes, I can bent out of shape over these frustrating times, and I need to be slapped and told to put on less cynical glasses. I just read a Carebridge journal written by a friend of ours sharing her testimony and her heart as she watches her young son Josh battle a tumor within his brain. Doctors have given this little guy's chances to live of little more than a year. I am giving you the website here that shares her testimony: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/joshuaspoolstra In reading this story, I am reminded to see everyday given to me by God to spend in His world with my girls as a precious gift.

I know I will not be perfect in this, but it is something I want to strive for. I have been truly blessed, but when things go bad in a small way or a big way, I want to remember the words of Psalm 68:19...Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens. God allows many things (blessings and struggles) to happen in our lives providing us opportunities to help us know Him more and to rely on Him more. I will confess I do not always do a great job of this, and Kristi, Glenn, Josh and family are inspirations to me to "Trust and obey, for there is no other way!"