Caden, the Sun-baked Goddess and a Missing Two-Year Old!

Today seemed like a normal day for me, we all got up around 6:30 and began our morning routines. Around 9:00am I told the kids we could either go swimming or go to the zoo. Aubrey chose swimming and Caden wanted the zoo, Brielle was just along for either ride. Due to the split vote we decided to flip a coin to see what our day would bring us.

So it was heads for the zoo and tails for swimming......flip goes the coin....tails it is....and CRASH goes my day.

You see I don't flip the coin the same way Daddy does and it isn't fair that swimming won because Aubrey got to go to a birthday party yesterday and I promised we would go to the zoo this week(which I am quite certain is not true I never make promises). It was time for the great Caden melt-down of the century. I was so close to saying forget it we are not going anywhere. I promise there is a point to airing Caden's dirty laundry! So I finally get him calmed down and ready for swimming....time for melt-down number 2. We get in the car and go to the gas station because I want a Diet Dr. Pepper and after melt-down number 1 I am thinking I need a little caffeine. So I park the car and go to get out to get my soda. I generally leave my kids in the car when I do a quick task like that. I do have criteria I follow #1 I must be able to see my car the whole time I am in the store #2 I must be in a safe area #3 It must be the right temperature because I lock them in the car. OK so now that I won't be chastised for leaving my kids in a car I can see for five minutes I will move on. It was now that melt-down number 2 begins. Caden suddenly has a fear of me leaving him in the car. He begins to yell and throw a fit the likes of which I haven't seen since he was a toddler. Are you kidding me? I am simply going to get a soda that will take five minutes. Now it is the principle of it....I am getting my soda and you are staying in the car! Twenty minutes later I am still battling...pretty sure I was losing too. I am in shock at the ridiculousness of this behavior and I do it, the thing I swore I would never do. I threaten to call Daddy. I never want Carl to have to be my bad guy. I feel that it is my job to discipline the kids and they need to obey me when I ask them too, not because I tell them Daddy will be upset. So the fit continues and I follow through and call Daddy. He finally calms down a little and I am able to get my soda. At this point I am so frustrated I want to cry and swimming is the last thing I want to do but in fairness to the girls we continue on our way to the pool. I know this is long but stay with me!!!!

We have been going to the pool for several weeks and we have met an older lady who we will call Nancy. Nancy loves the sun and looks as though she spends hours by the pool each day. She is very sweet to my kids but has always seemed just a little "off". Today, Nancy began to tell me that she is going back to work tomorrow for the first time in three months. She has been on disability because she has a brain tumor. We began to talk about her job, disability and all the things going on in her world. I would share them all but this story is already long enough. Nancy needed a friend at that moment. She is terrified to go back to work. We sat and talked about her options and I asked her if I could pray for her. She said, "Yes". I began to pray for her and she began to weep. She said she feels a connection with me and that she was so thankful I came to the pool today. I almost let a temper tantrum stop me from going to the pool.

As we were leaving the pool I hear a women screaming a name over and over. I run up to the lady and ask if she is OK. She said 'No, my grandson is missing. He is two and he ran out of my house and I can't find him." I said "Ok, how long has he been gone?" She replied "about five minutes." I said "let me help you." So I spent the next 15 minutes of my day searching for this little boy. We ran and yelled his name and we found him across a major road playing on a playground at a church. Nonetheless, we found him!!!!! His Grandmother was weeping and crying and thanking us for our help. I almost let a fit keep me from the pool.

So at the end of my day I realized once again that our battle is not against flesh and blood. I could have let the drama my day held keep me from things that mattered. I also realized that if Caden hadn't had that fit we would probably not have been at the pool when the little boy was missing. See Satan has a plan but God can always use it for His good. I shared this with Caden. I explained to him that Satan didn't want us at the pool today and we talked about how so many people needed us there. Today I didn't battle my son I battled an enemy and he didn't win!!!!!!