Poor Sad Mama Henley!

We have had a wonderful weekend at Mama Henley's house. It has been a weekend full of friends, lacrosse games, good food, and pirates. Last night after I cleaned up from dinner and was ready to CRAWL into the bed, I decided to start the load of whites that had been accumulating in our washer all day long. I added detergent, moved the dial to hot water, and started our washer. Off I went to bed for a much needed night of rest. I do believe God has a sense of humor, so as soon as I fussed at one of our girls for not knowing where her Bible was before church, I couldn't find mine. I looked EVERYWHERE. Ever-so-gracious and one who is not prone to fall apart emotionally AT ALL (note the sarcasm in my type!), I did just that. I looked everywhere and couldn't find the cute Lilly bag that was holding all of my Bible Study stuff, including my Bible, so then I fell apart. Completely.

Our sweet children and my caring husband were all waiting for me in the car. I made us all late. Some of the children got out of the car to help me after I told DH, "I just can't go. I can't find my Bible and the whole house is a wreck and I just can't go because now I don't feel like going and I can't find my Bible and now we're going to be late and I won't be able to concentrate because I will be obsessed with finding this bag! And I know I didn't leave it anywhere because I remember having it at the kitchen table and the house is a wreck and no one made their beds well, including me, and I just can't go. I just don't feel like going any more now that I am so completely behind!"

My ever-patient husband calmly replied, "You'll feel better if you go and you need to be a good example for the children, so let's just go." I hurried around the house one last time and then gave up. Well, I sort of gave up because I asked DH to stop at the children's school so I could double check the office. It wasn't there.

I am so glad he encouraged me to go to church because our sermon was wonderful! I really was fed while I sat in church, and while our Hurricane did a good job of distracting me, the missing bag did not. Needless to say, I returned home and looked everywhere once again and still could not find my bag.

This afternoon I was going to move clothes to the dryer when I found my bag. It was IN THE WASHER. It was IN THE WASHER that ran last night as a full load because the bag was hidden in there and made the load look full. It was washed with hot water and I accidentally ruined everything in it... my Bible Study binder, my Bible, a brand new library book, a magazine, and some stationary. The good news is that I had removed my calendar and work from the bag,so they were spared. I cried and our sweet girls put all of my things out in the sunshine to dry. All is not lost, God protected my calendar and work items. I can buy a new Bible and beg a friend to let me make copies of the Bible STudy work. We did not suffer a flood or fire, and everyone is healthy. I just feel foolish for not seeing it. I learned that I often fail at showing the children how to react in a 'crisis' and that I need to pray through my responses to little things in life!