Tuesday, aka Doozee-Day

Tuesdays are usually the days I don't have a lot going on, and the kids and I can pick and choose what we want to do, either at home or out and about. The past two Tuesdays, however, have been real doozees, so I've decided to rename Tuesday Doozee-Day. Has kind of the same ring to it, don't you think?

Last Tuesday, as I rocked my sick, ear-infected daughter back to sleep, I squinted through my blurry eyes at the clock that read 3:36 am. What's worse than being sick myself is for either of my children to feel horrible and, in this case, too young to tell me what's wrong or where it hurts.

Fast forward to yesterday, the beginning of my 28-hour "adventure" (as my son called it), trying to get from my sister's house to mine, a trip that usually takes 4 1/2 hours (5 tops). Think the shortest distance between to points is a straight line? In this case, that straight line crossed over a snowy, icy mountain pass that fluctuated between treacherous and undriveable (if that's even a word). The three of us spent the night in a small town on the back side of the mountain to wait what the weather looked like today. Uh-oh. More of the same...and worse. We decided to backtrack 20 miles, drive south to Oregon, over to Portland and back up to home sweet home. All in all, we spent 17 hours on the road and 11 in the hotel. One for the *family* history books for sure.

During both of these experiences, a quote was replaying in my head after I heard it in a talk at church about stewardship.

"Some may believe that they create their children, that they shape them out of unformed clay. Others may believe that they own their children. We, however, understand...our children are not ours. They belong to their Father in Heaven and to themselves. Our noble brothers and sisters, matured adults who agreed to become helpless babes entrusted to our care, have a right to expect us to treat them well."

I feel blessed to have my children's care entrusted to me. I have felt the weight of and reward for this responsibility especially over the last couple of weeks. I'm ever thankful for it.