Tender mercies

I know that the majority of my posts are a little on the grumpy, ranty side.  I wanted to change things up a little. There are times in our lives that seem overwhelming, exhausting, and discouraging.  In the last 4 weeks, in dealing with the challenges of a newborn and two other little boys that are dying for attention, I've felt overwhelmed, exhausted, and discouraged a time or two.  And on those days when I have felt like I just can't take another minute, someone has come along and dropped a blessing in my lap.

Here are a few examples of what I mean (and, as I think of it, a lot of it centers around food...):

The first day I was on my own, with Tim at work, my mom back in Orem, and the Relief Society meals done, I was feeling overwhelmed and exhausted.  The adrenalin from childbirth had worn off, I was dealing with toddler meltdowns, and the walls were starting to close in on me.  Out of the blue, my friend called and offered to bring me lunch.  That bacon cheeseburger was great, but even better was a visit from a friend, who cheered me up and reminded me that I wasn't alone.

It can feel very isolating when you first have a newborn.  You spend a lot of your day sitting in a chair, feeding the baby, and it is difficult to leave the house or even walk outside.  It can really warp your sense of community.  I was feeling super lonely one day, and the baby had spent a good deal of his awake time crying.  Tim got me outside into the sunshine, which was a blessing on its own, and then, while I was sitting on the lawn, my friends saw me from down the street and came over and chatted with me for a nice long time.  They didn't know it, but I had spent that entire day feeling friendless and abandoned (for no good reason).  Just chatting with me did a world of good.

2 weeks after the Relief Society had finished bringing in meals to help me, I was, once again, feeling overwhelmed at the thought of coming up with a meal for my family to eat.  The baby was fussing a lot, and I was discouraged at the thought of having to deal with an extra fussy baby.  I was spending an awful lot of time sitting on the couch, holding the baby and looking at my filthy floors, thinking there was just no way they would ever be clean again (I know, I'm such a downer!).  I spent a good part of that morning crying, until my mom called and said to gather up the kids, because we were going out to eat, and she was paying.  So we met for lunch and had a lovely time outside my den.  Then she followed me home, swept my floors, tidied up, and held the baby so I could take a walk on my own around the block.  That same day a woman from church called and said she was bringing me dinner, because she remembered what it was like in those days with little kids and a baby.  So, on a day where I thought I just couldn't make it to bedtime, two wonderful women stepped in and dropped unexpected blessings into my lap, turning a very bad day into a great one.

My first two babies spit up a lot.  A LOT.  Like, so much that I never had a clean shirt on, my couch was saturated in sour milk, I went through 5 burp cloths a day, and I was always worried about whether they'd kept down enough food to sustain them.  So last week, when the baby violently barfed up two meals in a row, my first reaction was, "Not again.  Now I've got to go to the doctor AGAIN to convince him AGAIN that my child has reflux problems and deal with gallons of spit up every day.  AGAIN."  I was mega bummed.  The mess that spitting up created made me decide to stay home from the church Halloween party, which was a huge disappointment to me.  After the trunk or treat was girls' night, which Tim insisted I attend.  The minute my friends asked how I was I burst into tears, and suddenly 4 wonderful friends were hugging me, offering me condolences, listening to my whining, and putting pumpkin cake into my hand.  I just needed a meltdown, and those ladies let me have my meltdown with them, and then they cheered me up and gave me treats to make it all better.

So, what's the point of all this?  Well, it's the first of November.  This month we celebrate Thanksgiving.  I thought I'd kick it off by recognizing the blessings in my life.  I feel like, through various wonderful individuals, I have been blessed by the tender mercies of the Lord.  Every day hasn't been difficult, or lonely, or overwhelming.  But on the days I have struggled and prayed to just make it to the end, these wonderful women have showed up when I needed them most and made a difficult time bearable, and for that I am grateful.