Splendid Chaos

There are very few things in my short 28.75 years of experience that I know for sure. Here are a few random things I know for sure:

-My gravy will be lumpy
- Meat does not come in the Manwich Can
-If we do not wait for Baby B to “do his business” prior to entering the bathtub, he will “do his business” in the tub.
- Poo-poo disintegrates into 8 million pieces, sort of like a stew consistency, upon entering a warm bath.
-My husband gets better and better looking with age. I, however, do not (see picture below).
-Good friends are hard to come by.
-Love and forgiveness are not earned. Each one is a choice.
-We are blessed with many good friends, most of whom we’ve met here.
- If you give me a houseplant, it will be dead in a month…possibly sooner. Much sooner.

I told you, very few things I know for sure.

Another thing I know for sure is The B’s seem to function at full capacity when we have a full schedule. If we have nothing planned, we seem to malfunction and get absolutely nothing done. When I say nothing, I mean nothing…like one of us might get a shower or brush our teeth. On the flip side, if our schedule is packed with 50 things for the day, we’ll get 55 things done. It is the way we operate, all or none. I don't know why, but whatever the reason, “that’s how we roll.”

Recently however, we have started malfunctioning with our full schedule. The calendar says F but we are definitely running on E. Of course by we, I mean me. No, I mean we. I don’t know. More so me than we, I guess. It doesn’t matter. We’ve been packed to the gills and what used to look like a beautifully orchestrated energetic dance now looks like an uncoordinated Polka performed by the Tasmanian Devil.

The strange thing is that amongst the complete chaos of a messy house, a pile of poopy diapers on the front porch, not remembering that we have tickets to one of the greatest Broadway shows tonight because I couldn’t find my calendar, having mac n’ cheese three times this week for lunch and cheerios twice for dinner, finally unpacking our bathroom bag from our beach trip in May (OK, half unpacked), and finally getting to return emails from two weeks ago, there seems to be a quieter, gentler hush to our days.

A splendid chaos, if you will.

I recently shared the story of Martha and Mary with a family member. As the words were coming out of my mouth, I felt something smack me upside the head. I instinctively looked for a shoe or a block thrown from Baby B, but then quickly saw he was strapped in the high chair in front of me. It was then I realized the smack was one of conviction. You see I come from a long line of Marthas. I am a recovering Martha. Playing Martha works for a while, but then eventually flops because we’ve worked up such a chaotic frenzy that we miss out on all the good stuff. And by good stuff I mean life. Memories, relationships, fun, relaxation, love, laughter…you know, the juicy stuff!

Now, recovering Marthas are known to have moments of weakness or relapse. Such as staying up until 10:00 at night to scrub a kitchen floor or deciding that the morning of a sister-in-law’s visit would be the perfect time to start repainting the bedroom red. Chaos resumes momentarily until we catch a glimpse of Mary sitting at His feet and are reminded of what we should be doing.

Aparently I have been in a long period of relapse. I realized this this as I was reciting the story. Thankfull, I have Baby B as my Mary. Although he has the capacity to work me up to such a chaotic frenzy I feel as though every fiber in my body is about to combust, he also has the power to quickly pull me back down to earth and remind me of what is important. He is teaching me how not to fight against time, but to give into it and enjoy it.

This morning I woke to a messy living room, pile of dirty laundry on the floor, a back yard that needs to be mowed, and a baby who woke up way to early thanks to a four-legged animal. I could feel Martha stirring inside me, already cursing the morning ahead while she began to rage and dust off her mop and broom. "Full speed ahead!" was her battle cry, "We have company coming at lunch! No time to waste!"

Then a little voice broke in- "Book, book! Dowch wit me. DOWCH WIT ME!!!!!!" With one deep breath I calmed Martha down, surrendering to the splendid chaos. I grabbed two books and sat on the couch (dowch) with Baby B. Then I changed his poopy diaper and threw it on the porch.

Our morning was full of music, coloring, creating sea creature stickers, and taking pictures. None of which would have taken place had I been doing all of the ten thousand other things that “needed” to be done. Had I been busy trying to keep Baby B and our new roommate out of the kitchen while I cleaned, I wouldn’t have been able to capture their morning goodbye kiss. .
We had an awesome time with our company, who came and left without commenting caring about the mess. Our house now messier than before. It is quiet now with Baby B sleeping. I was going to clean, but decided to sneak into his room and take some more pictures. As I was snapping away I was silently praying and thanking the Lord for all that He has given us wrapped up in this tiny little person.

It is impossible (and exhausting) to remember every moment, but it is possible to try to enjoy each moment...even amongst chaos.