Today

Today.  Yes, today.  It was just one of those days, but perhaps I should back up to yesterday.  :)

Yesterday, two sweet friends came to my home to help me with canning two 25 pound boxes of tomatoes.  It was my first time, and I was so excited!  I had spent two solid days on the road trying to gather all the needed ingredients and trying to clean my home well enough that I would feel comfortable enough to have them over!  lol!  I never got to that point, but I gladly welcomed them in with open arms!  I sure am glad they didn't go in my bathroom and closets!  ;)  In no time at all, we had prepared 7 pints of tomato juice, 19 1/2 pints of salsa, and 12 quarts plus almost 1 pint of spaghetti sauce.  I enjoyed having them here so much!  I hope we get to do it again!  Though the recipe cards were left at my home, I didn't have permission to copy the recipes, so I returned them to the rightful owner at church last night without writing down the recipes.  I'm sorry I don't have one to share today, but I will have one to share some day.  :)  Here are a few pictures, though, of the finished products.

I used some of my old jars from an estate sale.  These first two pictures are
just some close ups of the jars.  They have spaghetti sauce in them.

This is the tomato juice.

Most of the finished products with the salsa in the
front.

tomato juice, spaghetti sauce, and salsa

Today, though, I woke up thoroughly exhausted and just wanted to go back to bed.  The little girl woke up wanting to eat, and the little, energetic boy just wanted to stay in the bed. I just wanted to get out the door to our church's ladies day.  The children ate a bowl of cereal and got dressed while I got ready.  I thought perhaps my day was looking bright.  I dragged myself through the door of the home our group was cleaning and set to work in zombie mode.  When I was close to being done, my little one came in asking to go home and just not acting himself.  While I was there, I checked his temperature to discover he had a fever.  Since I knew he had already had symptoms the night before and his sister just got over strep, I made the decision to go ahead and get the antibiotic he had been prescribed at about the same time just in case he ended up sick, too.  Off I went praying God would keep me awake on the hour and a half ride from where I was.  As you can see, God provided and protected us there and back.  Once we got home I absolutely crashed on the sofa with the little man beside me in the recliner.  When I finally got myself awake enough to function, I realized he was too warm and checked his temperature again to find it was 104.  Sigh...I hate seeing my babies so sick.  I finally got his fever back down.

The whole day, I fought the grumpies.  Perhaps my body is fighting off sickness too.  Boy does Satan know my weaknesses and how to attack me at my weakest!  I absolutely refused to give in.  As horrible as I felt on the inside at the upside down way my day was turning out, how tired I felt, and the beer can someone put in my mailbox getting beer on my mail I refused to lose patience with my children or myself.  The emotions of grumpiness warred with the peace of God most of the day.  Praise God!  Except when the beer can nearly sent me over the edge causing me to post a negative comment on Facebook which I soon removed, I let God freely reign.  I overlooked the messy house.  I let go of the guilt caused by sleeping on the sofa, I let go of the insecurity caused by inferiority of cleaning skills brought on by cleaning with Mennonite women ( ;) That was totally brought on by myself, not them.), I let go of the fact that my dress was shorter than I liked and my legs were too white, I let go of the fact that we were supposed to start school this week, and the book I paid expedited shipping for a week ago still hasn't arrived, I let go of the fact that the lawn needed to be mowed, I let go of the fact that the flower beds look like jungles, I let go of the guilt that I had to spend money to feed my children fast food junk because we were on the road most of the day, and I let go of the frustrations over many things that are lacking.  I just let go, period.  I just let go and let God have control over that which I could not control.  I just had to let go and rested in his peace.  I had to give it all to him. He says, "Come unto me all ye who are burdened and heavy laden, and I will give you rest."  Today. Yes, today.  I put it all at his feet.  Could he really be sitting before me, yes, the tears would have washed over his feet, and I would have gladly washed them with my hair.  I don't think he would have condemned me further for all the things that are wrong.  I think he would be happy that I laid down Martha and gave in to my Mary heart.  His love couldn't have been any more real if I had been wiping the tears from his precious, nail scared feet.  Oh, how I love my Savior!  I praise God for his love and faithfulness!  He is more precious than all the world to me.  Have you taken time to just rest in his fullness and grace today?

Until we meet again, may you be blessed.