Monkey Wrenches In Your Plans

It's funny how things work out. So many times, things don't work out the way you think they should. Yet, even when things are different than the way you thought they would be, things can still be ok! After all, " And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." - Romans 8:28.

This has been a good (but busy!) weekend!! Friday, we had to take the van in to get looked at because the engine light came on. EVERY YEAR at this time, we have a car repair!! No joke!! I mean, we thought we would finally escape that once we traded in our ailing Taurus. LOL But noooooooooooooooo!! LOL Anyways, yeah....got to take it back in on Tuesday to get something fixed. At least the good news is it won't cost a totally insane amount of money like in years past - though it's still enough to be a pain in the butt!! Now, we just have to wait for our furnace to break down so we can get that fixed again. As with the vehicle, our furnace ALWAYS breaks down every year at this time. LOL Strange isn't it? It always has to be around Christmas time when things are already busy and tight. But, I guess what better time...because right after the holidays is tax refund time; which enables us to pay off whatever we rack up. Although, it would be nice to have ONE TIME where we could use our tax refund for something else other than just credit card debt and other bills. That's life isn't it? LOL Yeah...I can laugh at myself. It isn't so bad. It could always be worse!!

Ok.......anyways. Saturday, Susan's husband, Steve, and their daughter, Tabitha, made it up here safe and sound from Florida. That was a loooooooooooong drive for them!! Yep, all in one day too!! EEK!! LOL (Thank you GOD for keeping them safe and give them a safe journey home as well). Anyways, we are trying to enjoy the brief time that we have with them. They're busy trying to look around at houses as they prepare to move up here in a few months. And, today was a busy day for me as well. Oh, it was chaotic!! LOL

So, that's where the monkey wrenches come in just a little bit! The plan was that while Steve and Tabitha went to Huntington, we were all going to go to church, as usual, and participate in their blood drive, and then I was going to take Mitch to work (yep, he has to work today because of having Thanksgiving off this week) and then drop the kids off at our friend's house while I went back to the church to rehearse for the Christmas musical. Easy enough right? Ha!! You would think!! LOL

So, we went to church and dropped the kids off at their classes. Then, we went to the gym to get ready to give blood. Giving blood is a piece of cake for Mitch, but not for me. I do it because it's a good thing to do, and I try and bear it as best a possible. As you might have read in a past blog, I have trouble with my iron being a point low sometimes - which then disqualifies me. I also have a problem giving blood because I get nauseous and dizzy and it takes FOREVER for me to give a whole pint!! LOL But, I didn't have to worry about that today, because yes.....I was DENIED!! ONE POINT LOW for my iron, so I couldn't donate.

I was a little frustrated. I made sure I had a good meal the night before (lasagna as a matter of fact because we have company and that is my specialty dish!!) and this morning, I had a good breakfast as usual. So, I didn't figure I had to worry because I had done an especially good job (better than most times in fact) of making sure I ate well. However, even my best efforts weren't enough!!

Sometimes, life is like that. No matter how hard you try to make something good happen, sometimes, it just doesn't go the way you planned. You can try and try and try, and your best still won't cut it. That's ok; you just have to keep trying. And, if you ultimately fail, then you will know that you did the best you could and that you can bow out gracefully and begin to adapt to the outcome that you got rather than the one you didn't. That's what I had to do today. Even though I didn't do what I thought was the best thing, it STILL turned out GREAT - just in a different way. I didn't personally give blood to save a life today, but I did help to save a life by enabling someone else to give blood. Our friend, Bruce, asked me to pick up his grandchildren from class since he obviously was going to be there a while. Now, if I had been giving blood as well, who would he have had to do that for him? So, I still played a part in the process; just not the role I thought was intended for me.

So, I was thrilled, in a way, that I didn't have to go through the unpleasant donation process today, but I still had an equally unpleasant time NOT donating because I had Bruce's grandchildren, plus my own children, to try and keep track of while we were waiting on Bruce and Mitch to finish up their donation time. LOL So, there I was; holding Dakota, my bottle of water, two diaper bags, and a few winter coats. All the while, I was trying to shoo Casey and Gianna away from the library where the doughnuts were so we could go to the other class to pick up Tori. However, the kids weren't listening, and I was utterly powerless because I am not an octopus. LOL So, praise God, there were people to come to my aid!! They stayed with my stuff, and my kids, in the library while I took Dakota with me to get his sister.

Even when I got back, I still had my work cut out for me. It's not easy trying to clean up four little kids with sticky doughnut fingers. It's also not easy to get them to stay in one spot and "wait." LOL And, it's especially not easy to deal with a little drama queen who throws herself on the floor when you tell her that one doughnut is all she gets. And, it's REALLY REALLY hard not to lose your mind when your newly potty-trained son (or so you thought) wets himself and waddles around in damp pants. LOL So, about that time, I was thinking to myself just how much better it would have been to be sitting with a needle in my arm, rather than being in the situation I was in. However, I will still doing a good thing either way, and I managed it well. Had I given blood, I could have helped saved a life. But, even when I didn't, I still helped to save a life because Bruce was able to give his blood because of my willingness to help and sacrifice. Either way, the Red Cross was only getting one pint between the two of us. LOL Plus, I was able to be a blessing to Bruce as well.

Once Mitch was done donating, he came to the library, and we rounded up our kids and left. Dakota and Tori stayed with another friend until Bruce was finished, so it all worked out.

As chaotic as things seemed, I was able to see the purpose (and the humor!! LOL) in my situation,. I also had the support I needed from some good friends who stepped in to get me through it. No problem!! :) Either situation would have been hard, but with the right attitude, and WONDERFUL FRIENDS, you can make it through anything - good, bad, or worse!! LOL

So, after all that, I took Mitch to work, and then came home to wash up my son and put him into a new outfit. Then, I hurried them through lunch, loaded them back up in the van, and took them to our friend's house so I could go to rehearsal. (THANK YOU PHIL AND CINDY!!!!! I LOVE YOU!!)

So, what else could possibly go wrong? Ha ha!! Well, we just found out that we will be performing three Christmas Eve services instead of just two (how lovely!!). :p But, we made it through rehearsal (got to do the singing and dancing today!) and tried to keep focused on why we were doing it in the first place. Yes, it's going to be a hard sacrifice - because many people have Christmas Eve get-togethers - but it will all work out. It's not how we had it "planned" in our minds, but we have to "adjust and adapt" as Mr. Tatman (my English teacher) always said.

So, now, I have picked up the kids and come home to write all this out as I ponder the amazing insights of today!! LOL I would be writing out the sermon notes, but I only got to see the last part of the service as I was coming out from my "rejection" at the blood drive. LOL So, I don't have anything to really write. I would have brought the bulletin home with me that had enough stuff in it to summarize it, but it got lost in the shuffle of children, diaper bags, and coats. LOL Sorry everyone!! Basically, all it was about, was directing people to Jesus through any means necessary. And, it doesn't have to be "stand up on your soapbox" evangelism either. You can lead someone to their next step towards Christ in even the smallest of ways; just by being a friend, talking to them, or leading them to someone else who will help move those "road block rocks" out of their path too. So, if you want to learn more about today's message, you can always listen to it at www.missionoflife.com whenever they get today's message on there.

Well, that's all I got for today (oh yeah, is that all Melissa? You wrote a book here!! LOL). Sorry! Blogopotamus!! He he. Anyways, yeah....that's it!! I'm going to wait for Steve and Tabitha to get back to see what they want to do next. I was going to take Tabitha to Fort Wayne to see the mall and go to a movie, but since I found out that Mitch isn't going to get home until 8:00 (yep, that's right!!) I don't know if Steve would want to stay here by himself with my rugrats for that long. LOL I guess we'll see what happens!! Sometimes, you just have to know when to close the book on something and accept the curveballs you are thrown and deal with them. You can chase after things and have the "don't give up" mentality all you want, but there are times where you have to let go as well and quit wasting time on dead ends. Things can still be great even if they aren't how we thought they would be - or would like them to be. It's just a hard thing to figure out sometimes isn't it? LOL (Yeah, insert the famous "serenity prayer" here!!)

Ok........ TOTALLY done now!!! LOL Have a great day everyone.......even if it's not as "great" as you planned!! ;) Be thankful and deal with whatever comes!! God bless you!!