The Good News and the Bad News

Today was good and bad, bad and good. Actually, that's a typical Spain day for me - ride the coaster. I woke up had time to read my Bible and prepare a healthy breakfast for the kids, in my own home -  very good. The kids have been feeling sick with colds and no amount of dragging/coaxing was getting them off their mattresses - bad. In just two hours I had a team of people arriving at the house for various repairs and cleaning projects, I needed those kids off to school - worse.  Since they would miss the bus after snoozing a couple of extra hours DH agreed to drive them into school for me - good.  Don't worry they popped up just fine, I didn't actually force them to school.

Fast forward several hours. 3/4 of the days's repair and cleaning projects completed - good (for Spain). But it means I'll be housebound again tomorrow since they need to come back - ugh, bad since I've got things to do like shop for groceries!

DH calls and says he's got good news, our household goods shipment is finally on it's way. And bad news, it won't arrive until December 4th. Bad, very very bad. Can you say, crestfallen? That's me. How can I possibly survive two more months, 8 more weeks, 55 more days without our precious belongings? What could possibly take so long? Apparently, they are putting our goods on the slow slow boat.

We've been in our new house about a week now and I've been sketching drawings and planning where our furniture will go. I've only allowed myself to purchase items we don't already have or absolutely can't live without thinking our shipment is 2 weeks out, not 2 months.

When you are a stay at home mum, your home really is your workplace and a big big part of your world. So realizing I wouldn't have the items I need to make our home felt pretty bad. After I stomped upstairs, plopped on my bed and half heartedly picked up a book ironically titled "What to do After the Boxes are Unpacked" (ironic since my boxes won't be unpacked for a long long time) I realized something. The fact is, I was given the gift of time today. Time to catch my breath, time to get on the floor and play with my babes (literally since there isn't anything to sit on), to read to my 9 year old until she falls asleep (I don't have to rush downstairs and clean anything up since the little we brought with us is it's neatly tucked into our closets) time to go for a walk and wonder what's behind all those high brick walls my neighbors have, time to read books (since we have no tv, and internet is spotty), time to be quiet (since my phone is too expensive to use for just chatting) time to BE, A human being, instead of a human doing...

This is a simple lesson, but one I'm positive God himself has set before me with His perfect timing. I'm out of excuses: not much to clean, organize or distract.  So looks like it's me and the fam spending some serious QT for the next 55 days. And as I  dutifully repeat to myself when I feel my blood pressure rising about some thing being sullied, "people are more important than things".  So while the bad news is I don't have my things, the good news is I do have my cherished husband and precious three babies and time to honestly appreciate them.


Colossians 1:10-12

New International Version (NIV)

¹⁰ so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, ¹¹ being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, ¹² and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you^[a] to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light.