Not My Plans

On Friday morning I had planned making my playgroup debut with Emily.  This week it was going to be at a location I knew so I didn’t have to look up directions.  It was at a home and not at a public location like a library or kids gym so nursing situations would be less complicated.  Perfect circumstances for us.

Emily must have been as excited as I was because she was wide awake at 6am.  I decided this was probably a good thing because it gave us 4 hours to make sure Emily was fed, dressed, and freshly diapered and that I had eaten and taken a shower.

We were really close. We needed to be walking out the door at 10:15. I thought we were going to make it on time.  But then Emily made it very clear she was quite hungry at 10:10. I still needed five minutes after that to finish getting ready.  Andrew jumped in to help with changing Emily’s diaper which had been filled while she was eating.  At 10:30 Emily just had to be put in her car seat.  We would be late, but we would make it.

Andrew ran the garbage out at 10:30 (due to the diaper) and found that one of our neighbors needed to jump his car.  Andrew offered to help.  Emily and I got ourselves out the door so we could drive away as soon as our neighbors car was running.

We discovered our car wasn’t starting.  Andrew and our new friend tried everything they could to get our car going so they could get his car going.  Emily and I went back inside and watched from the window as they attempted push starting the car.  By 10:50, it was pretty clear no one was going anywhere.

I was a little frustrated, but Emily and I talked it through and made an unanimous decision that we needed to get out of the house. Now.  So Emily went from the car seat to the moby wrap and we took off on a walk.

I called a wise friend who listened to my morning as I tried to see the humor in the situation.  She exclaimed, “It sounds like you are having a Nephi morning!”  Nephi and his brothers were sent back to Jerusalem to get the brass plates after recently leaving Jerusalem with their family. They made a plan to just go and ask for them.  That didn’t work.  So they went and got all of their precious things to make a trade.  That really didn’t work (their things were taken and an army was sent after them to kill them).  After they had run out of ideas, God showed them the way.

Well after my ideas had run out, God showed me the way too:  A warm fall mid-morning walk surrounded by the the beauty our little part of the world has to offer.  An opportunity for prayer and reflection.  A practice teaching moment for me as mom about handling emotions when things go wrong (I don’t think Emily made the connection, maybe next time :) ).

 

Yesterday we went to all three hours of church for the first time since Emily was born! I really, really, really wanted to stay. I made this great plan that Emily should stay happy in Sacrament meeting, then I could feed her during Sunday School, and then attend Relief Society.

It started off perfectly! She slept through Sacrament Meeting and we listened to wonderful talks.  Then she was hungry in Sunday School so I went to feed her.  Here is where the plan deviated. My plan didn’t include a difficult feeding, spit up, and her most impressive diaper explosion yet that required a complete change of clothes (she didn’t come home in the cute outfit she is wearing below). However, we did make it for the last 15 minutes of Relief Society.  And I heard exactly what I needed to hear.

To top it off, she remained quite content for another half hour or so after church while I socialized!  

Moral of the story: My plans are okay.  God’s are better.  And I have to choose to see it that way and be grateful for all of the blessings he is offering.