"Please right now?"

Scooby Doo is on the television and Joe is lying upside down watching it from the chair and Josh is equally as enthralled watching it right-side-up while sipping on some apple juice. Its relatively quiet for this zoo of a house. The only real sound is the 'white noise' from Cohen's swing and his occasional bouts of dolphin talk (aka squealing). Mom is taking her turn to run, so its just the four us here now. Having another adult in the house to watch Cohen while I take my turn means I didn't have to purchase an expensive jogging stroller after all.... sweet deal. And anyway, post-baby, I am having a hard enough time getting back in shape without pushing a big stroller with the chubster in it. Did I mention Cohen is getting HUGE?!?! He has now quadrupled his birthweight in just 5 months. I mean, he now has a dimply fat roll on his ANKLE. I think that's the definition of chubby.

Anyway...

I got up this morning at 4:30 (yes, A.M.) to take Sweet Sister Beth to the airport. I usually wake up easily, but this morning it felt like a dream (a bad dream) when she woke me up. Cohen has been sleeping through the night for some time now, but the last couple of nights he has been waking almost every couple of hours, crying. I AM SO READY FOR THAT TOOTH TO COME IN. I know once it comes in, I will be whining about nursing again, but at least I will be sleeping for some sustained amount of time even if I am 'injured'. So I was beyond tired y'all.

I fed and diapered Cohen and then we all piled into the car for the hour long drive to the airport. Its not a bad ride in the early morning when very few cars on the on the road and the baby is asleep. I like these times....just Beth and I and the chance to talk. I mean, obviously I do. I woke up at 4:30

We got about 10 minutes away and I looked down at the gas gage. It will dangerously close to empty. In all the feeding/diapering/carseating of Cohen in the dark I had not been able to find my purse. Beth said not to worry about it, she had hers. The thing was it was already 5:15 and at the rate we were going, she would get to the airport right at 6:10 about an hour before her flight. A stop meant she would be later. The other thing, was that there are not very many gas stations between us and the next big town and the next big town was a little less than half way. We live in the sticks, y'all. The STICKS.

I knew of one little gas station only a few more miles down the road, but wasn't sure it would be open. Beth wasn't sure it would take a credit card (we had no cash). I assured her it must take credit. I mean, WHO DOESN'T TAKE CREDIT?!?!? She was still skeptical. I thought of all the small businesses I knew that I had credit card machines....surely... but then I pulled in and read a big sign that clearly said "NO CREDIT CARDS ACCEPTED. Cash and Check ONLY"

Are you serious? They would take a check rather than a credit card?!?!? Welcome to Small Town, America.

I wasn't sure we could make it the rest of the way to the next big town on the gas we had in the tank (the light had been on for 15 minutes now). I knew if we went the other direction, there would be gas stations galore, but then Beth would miss her flight. I have only once ran out of gas. It was two months after Shawn and I got married and I was on a busy road. I made it about 2 miles from our apartment and it puttered and then...nothing. Shawn had driven the car the whole day before without fillling it and I was on my way to the gas station to remedy that. He always swears you can get 60 miles on empty. So much for that! Anyway, o one stopped to help me. Shawn wasn't answering his phone because it was only 8am. So after awhile, I scribbled a note begging for the car not to be towed and put it in the window, and ran the whole way home. Shawn woke up to my freaking out and jumped on his skateboard (yes, his skateboard) and went to the car while our neighbor took me to get some gas.

I guess its kind of a funny story now. It wasn't as funny this morning as I recounted it to Beth. (well, except for the skateboard part...that's always funny) I was worried we weren't goign to make it. So I did what anyone would do:

I asked her to pray.

I have this thing about Beth...I mean, I know its stupid, but I sort of feel like she's a good luck charm. When we first started flying it freaked me out a little bit. I hate(d) landing. The take off and the whole flight, I was prefectly fine, but then we descent started, I would feel a tightening in my stomach. Beth would always hold my hand. So many times I would look over at her and think about the impact she was having with her music and think 'God wouldn't kill her. Its going to be fine.' Ridiculous I know. But i was a comforting thought to me. So she prayed and I felt better and we made it to the next big town and got some gas and somehow made it the airport in time for her to catch her flight.

It has been an eventful morning.

I came home and Cohen woke up and Joe and Josh were be wild. Mom kept having to remind them to say 'please can i have a fruit bar?' and 'thanks for my apple juice, Mommy'. About the third time Joe asked for another blueberry fruit bar, he was starting to get impatient. Mom was still holding out for the request WITH manners. "how do we ask for a fruit bar, Joe?" He looked at her with the frustration children feel from having to wait more than a mili-second for anything and said "PLEASE RIGHT NOW?"

I had to laugh.

I can be oh-so-very-much like that. I am a glass half FULL kind of gal. I am a tad more realistic than Pollyanna, but I do tend to see the brighter side of things. And often I want the brighter side of things PLEASE RIGHT NOW. So in this season of waiting on God to heal what's broken to redeem was seems hopeless, I often find myself wanting to skip to the part where everything is already better. Beth calls it the Adelsberger in me. I guess we all sort of have that. Our parents raised us to not complain and we are all too often the ones to say "Sure, its okay" or "I am fine" when the truth is nothing is fine or okay. We can be polite and gloss things over and always look for the best. Those can be great things...but they can also be avoidance strategies.

So this morning I was reminded with a little laugh to not rush to the point where everything is all put back together, but to instead look for God in each moment and savor each step in the healing process as He puts our life back together.

Thanks for all of the comments from the last post. Its good to know y'all are still reading. I will try to be more consistent. Have a blessed day, friends!