Monday morning, Lord, and I’m back to the coffee shop. I have successfully dropped Emily at her school, Faith and Trinity at their school, and Nathan at kindy and figure that not only do I deserve a coffee, this is the only practical thing I can think of to do in order to spend some time with you.
It was a great upheaval having to be ready to leave earlier in order to do an extra school drop-off but I figure if I can try and do this most mornings (if not every morning) it might give a small measure of relief to Caroline. Not only will she not need to rush so much in the morning, it also will mean one trip less out with Christian per day. Anything that buys us all a bit more sanity will be worth it I think – although whether I’ll still feel the same when the temperature starts dropping will be another thing. It’s already pretty dark in the mornings as we near the end of Daylight Saving with some distinct signs of autumn in the air. We have had a good summer though, so I suppose we can’t complain too much, can we Lord?
Speaking of complaining reminds me of Claire. I might have said this before, but if complaining was an Olympic sport she would be a gold medal contender for sure. Sometimes I can’t imagine how William stands to live with her since I’m sure she must have instructions for everything – but then he does seem complicit in pretty much everything she does so I guess he fully supports her negative ways.
Yesterday’s complaint (as you know) centred round the fact that they hardly get to see us any more. To them it seems as though our house is permanently cluttered with guests and that there is no room for them, or time for them either. 100% correct! Claire decided it was high time she gave me a piece of her mind for having invited Caroline and her three ‘monsters’ to stay and waxed lyrical for quite some time about the folly of this move. When I suggested they could always invite us over instead, or even just take the grandchildren out or offer to babysit now and then, one would have thought I suggested she run down the main street in her birthday suit, such was the strength of her reaction!
Honestly, I thought it was the job of the parents to do the giving and the children to do the taking. Sure the children have to honour the parents (no mention of in-laws!!) but isn’t the natural order of things somewhat different to what Claire expects? Clearly, somewhere in the fine print of Claire’s motherhood contract it says that all her motherly efforts are to be repaid in kind at Andrew’s (and my) earliest convenience. Besides, what does she expect me to do, stand by and let my best friend sleep in the streets?
As if Claire’s complaining didn’t top things off enough, the rest of church was a bit uncomfortable as well. Since it was Diana’s last morning as Sunday School teacher there in fact was no Sunday School as the service became a sort of farewell for Diana to which the children were invited. Granted, Daniel did try and make the service kid-friendly by having a children’s talk and an interesting dvd, but by and large it involved Andrew and me having to manage four restless, sleep deprived, hungry young ones, and it turned more into a test of endurance than an opportunity for spiritual succour.
Anyway, I figure that’s enough moaning today. Claire’s complaints have made me realise I have been a bit neglectful of not only the Copelands, but of my own family as well. I pray that you would help me to balance all my commitments, Lord, with having a full house, and that you would also help me not forget to keep up connection with others too. Having guests just dominates and it’s easy to let other things slide. I also would like to commit our finances to you as well, Lord. With having Caroline to stay I am sure we will end up having extra expenses (including a daily coffee maybe!) so I pray you would take care of this area of our lives. After seven years on one income our reserves are not robust! Bless our mess…Amen