We're Here

We've made it to Ohio, safe and sound. The little people are finally asleep.

The day started a little rough. The kids just seemed to be on some sort of high frequency. They argued with each other, hit, pushed, yelled, etc. When I heard my ever patient mom snap at Lily I knew this day was not starting off well. The cell phones went missing. Not just mine, as usual, but we also have a prepay that we use if Lily goes somewhere, or we would need it in an emergency. Mike charged it last night, left it on the table...poof... gone.

Now, I unlike most women my age, rarely use my phone. I keep it in the diaper bag, my purse, or the van. I talk on it only when I have to. The fact that it seems to disappear just when I need it the most is frustrating, but I've given up the full out fit throwing that could come from this frustration. I'm more of a "it'll show up, just relax" kind of girl. There was no relaxing this morning. Mike was going through the house on a mission looking for the phones. All people on two feet were requested join the mission. If they did not sign up willingly they were drafted. We searched, we searched again, and again, and yet again. (there was some scary stuff under the fridge and deep in couch cushions....ewww)

All children were questioned, together and individually. Lily has swiped it before to call friends. Dax has swiped it before to call random people on the directory. Finn has been known to swipe it to dance to the sound of the ring tone and the cool little "beep beep" noises the buttons make. He is also notorious for throwing random items into the trash can. Dax admitted to having played with a phone, but seemed to have no knowledge of it's current whereabouts. When asked, "Finn, have you seen Mama's cell phone" Finn replied, "mama blahbleosjtkeos" and ran off, coming back moments later holding a plastic cell phone that belongs to Lily. (I have recently commented on his brilliance, right? =) Lily denied all knowledge of anything relating to the current or historical placement of said cell phones. We pushed this and it ended in a teary admission of past misuse, but not current.

My darling husband started to lose it. Kids were crying, kids were whining, people were pushing, griping, etc... My mom was with us, I'm thinking either she thinks we're nuts or she's having flashback to days of old. As Mike was yelling at Lily and all three children were crying, I decided I'd had it. It had been over an hour. We had searched the whole house and van. I swooped in, picked up my boys and told everyone they need to "CALM DOWN" I of course did this in a very loud non calm voice just to get my point across. As I made this fine point, I wheeled around and knocked Finn's head into the shelf in our hallway and he started to cry. He had a package of something in his hand and as he started to cry he accidentally poked Dax in the eye with the corner of the package. Dax started to cry louder. (At this point I feel my mother of the year nomitation is in the bag)Lily came in, yes, crying , and honestly I just thought about chucking the trip and pouring a glass of something adult.

So, with all my children in my arms I prayed. I prayed that everyone would calm down and that God would let the cell phones fall from the sky. I prayed these exact words "please Lord, let them show up right in front of our noses." I then put everyone back down and suggested we just get this show on the road. "Let's load up the van and get all the stuff out of the house." As I started loading, Mike yells, "I found one." it was in the diaper bag, the very first place I looked, the place I'd looked 3 times. We continued loading, with a little "hallelujah" under my breath. not 3 minutes later, Lily says, "I found the other one" it was in the van, where Mike had already looked. So, now, I'm not gonna deny that a child could have had possession of these and just put them back, but there is no way I'm gonna discount God putting them right under our noses because we asked him to. So, my lesson for the day, ask him, even in the little things, He listens.

Dax's lesson for the day, when you yell "I need to pee pee" while on a long car ride people jump and you get to stop at cool places to pee. That's a story for another day...