Summer Days and Snail Mail...

It was a splendid summer morning and it seemed as if nothing could go wrong.
-- John Cheever

I was up to a day of tackling strawberries and motherhood. It was going to be a good day! I was feeling great and thought "I can handle this! no problem!" (ok,actually, I think I was dreading the day just a wee little bit!)

Somewhere along the way life happened, attitudes fell and things went downhill - fast!!!!

Now I always hear that facebook and blogs always show the best of a person. The clean house, the combed kids, the playful,creative mom who makes life a hoot, the perfect lawn graced with delightful flowers, weedless, beautiful!
But I'm here to be honest and to say that life does not always go that way, at least not at this house!

I soon discovered that a fussy baby does not work well with strawberries and in the end the fussy baby wins.( and somewhere in my mind I was stirring up a big pity party that I didn't have my mom next door :) )
And to add to the mix there were other fights to be taken care of and a whole lot of other ugly issues. And I was feeling overwhelmed.
 I soon gave up to the fact that my day was not going to go as planned and I may as well just suck it up! :)
I went out and pitched ball for the two oldest, searched for a mower piece that hubby needed and held my baby.
I wish I could say that I threw my bad attitude into the wind, but I didn't. When hubby got home I sat down and cried to him, told him everything that went wrong that day, and he, in his gentlemanly way put his arm around me and said he's sorry that things went that way.
I went to get ready for bed and just for good measure chomped a bite off of my snickers bar.
This morning when I was reading a chapter in the Ministry of Motherhood this sentence stuck out - "They saw him (Jesus) work until he was utterly exhausted and yet still remain gracious and compassionate" - and immediately I knew I had failed! There was an apology to be had and I must say I am blessed with a wonderful, forgiving husband! :)

Now, I know that sometimes it's probably hard and embarrassing to admit when you fail! What will people think? What will people say? But in life I have discovered that I relate to the "real people" a lot easier than to people who can make everything look like a dream life.
And there's a balance between being "real" and being just plumb whiny and complainy and telling everyone, e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g that went wrong! :)

So in this life I am trying to be real :)

This yummy strawberry dessert did make the day better :) And the day wasn't all bad! My children had me laughing when they came with their britches hiked way high and said they were "amish." Not sure where they get that description of amish but it made me laugh! :D Their energy and excitement make me happy!

Last month I was blessed with letters - snail mail style. My heart gets all happy and excited when I get letters and boxes!

There was a letter and birthday card all the way from Germany, from my German "sister." It was fun reading the letter she sent and to read all about her life there. Erika was an exchanged student who lived with my family for a school term. It was fun to go visit her in Germany years ago. And it's fun for me to be able to still have contact with her.

And there's this awesome friend I have from Canada and she sent me pictures of her adorable baby! I got to spend a few years in Liberia with her and she is one of those friends, that even when we don't talk for a long time we just kinda pick up where we left off. I'm dreaming of a reunion with her sometime.

And then my mom...she sent a box of material ( I sew for her) and in that box she had goodies for us.

It causes excitement when there's a box from Grammy! My personal favorites were the plantain chips from Liberia, let's say "YUM!" and the new Tupperware 9x13 pan. Yep, my mom rocks!

Anyway here I go to finish my busy day. I hope each of you have a wonderful week. I'm excited about the weekend! A birthday party for my almost 5 year old (gasp) and probably a family night out with the kids to celebrate. A trip to Abbeville to see my aunt and her family...and just the weekend! That makes me happy!

I'll leave you with a quote to make your bad days a little less serious...
p.s. if you find it a bit crude I'm sorry. I really don't' mean it that way it just made me laugh!

"God grant me a vacation to make bearable what I can't change. A friend to make it funny and the wisdom to never get my knickers in a knot because it solves nothing and makes me walk funny! :)