An Attitude of Gratitude

I am continually amazed at the not so obvious ways that God reminds me to be thankful. The other night the girls and I had been out on a call with Daddy and it had gotten a little past supper time. We stopped at a restaurant with a playground so they could eat and have a little fun, which they did until the baby reached the top of the playground structure and decided she was too afraid to slide down. Her older sister who has the mother hen gene rushed to her rescue, much to her own delight. I've never seen a kid who enjoys taking care of a baby sibling the way my Sharlee does. Such a warm and fuzzy family moment. And then in an instant we were all reminded that our baby is in the middle of her terrible twos when we announced that it was time to leave.
I have to give her credit. The kid has got moxie. She was wailing with the gusto of someone having a limb amputated with no anesthesia. With her dad holding her and me giving it my all, we still couldn't get her boots back on. Every time I'd get a boot on and move to the next foot, she'd kick her legs until the first one went sailing across the room. I'm not sure if she was aiming at me, but after the second near miss, I'd had enough.
Feeling my body temperature shoot up like a mother's always does when her children begin to draw attention to themselves for all the wrong reasons, I stuffed the boots in the diaper bag and quickly we devised a plan. My husband would carry her out the playground door and walk around the outside to the car, while the big kids and I walked back through the main dining area. Yes, distraction. That's the best policy. Divide and conquer!
So off we went, the baby still shoeless, red-faced and shrieking. I couldn't help but look at her sisters and say, "And when you guys did that, it was times two. That's why I didn't take you hardly anywhere by myself when you were this age!" As much as I miss them being little, some days I am SO very glad we are past that particular stage in their lives.
As we wound our way through the dining room, I was completely lost in thought about how stressful this whole motherhood thing was and how we were never eating at another restaurant again when I was given a good swift kick in the pants, metaphorically speaking. As I opened the door to walk out, a van pulled up and unloaded its passengers. All of them were special needs and/or physically handicapped adults. Immediately I was compelled to stop and thank God for my three precious, healthy children, even the screaming one in the parking lot. I thought about those sweet people as children, how difficult life must have been for them and for their mothers. What strong and amazing women they would have to be to parent a special needs child. They say that God doesn't give us more than we can handle, and I freely admit that sometimes I wish he didn't trust me so much. I bet those mothers felt the same way at some point! And I thought about the woman driving the van. What a special person she must be to have taken on such a job. How lucky those people were to have her!
God's little tune-ups never cease to amaze me. He yanks my chain pretty much on a daily basis, which is why I try to remember to start each day with gratitude. Even though I haven't listed the things I am thankful for each day on Facebook like so many of my friends, it's certainly not because I don't have anything to be thankful for. My life is overflowing with blessings, even if I need to be reminded what they are from time to time.