The Blessings of a Bad Morning

This post is not the one that I had planned to write today, but so many things have gone wrong this morning that I thought I would write about that and how they showed me how truly blessed I am.

This morning actually started at 12:45 a.m. when I was awakened by Sarah Beth coughing. I had given her and Daniel cough medicine before putting them to bed, but apparently hers had worn off. So I got up to give her more. Then Mary woke up, fussing, at 2:30. She has been sleeping through the night, so I don't know what happened. She didn't appear hungry, but she ate anyway. And I was back in bed about 3:00. John's alarm went off at 5:15, and I was hoping for a little nap between then and when I needed to get up about 6:00, but Mary had other ideas, so I got up to feed her again.

I put Mary back in bed about 6:15 and hopped into the shower. And I ran out of hot water which has never happened before in this house. (John told me later that he thinks he may have turned off that switch in the breaker box by accident.) At this point, I made the mistake of wondering what else could go wrong. The house felt cold, so I went to turn on the heat. Guess what. It didn't turn on. The repairman was here yesterday to work on it, but he apparently forgot to turn it back on.

John gave Sarah Beth some cough medicine before he left for work and told me that it was all gone. I said that no, there was more in the pantry. When I went to give Daniel some after breakfast, there wasn't any. *Sigh* So we made a trip to get some because I knew I would need it, and that was the first time I've taken all four children anywhere (except the doctor) by myself.

I have to admit that I was almost expecting to get in an accident on the way home from the store, just based on how the rest of my morning had gone.

However, when I thought about this morning some more, I realized that there was much for which to be thankful.

1. I only had to get up once with Sarah Beth and once with Mary. I could have had to get up multiple times with multiple children.
2. I was able to sleep in between getting up with the children.
3. Like I said, Mary has been sleeping through the night, so I'm fairly well rested and not already exhausted.
4. Sarah Beth and Daniel aren't really sick; their allergies are just acting up.
5. Mary went back to sleep this morning so I could get a shower.
6. We have hot water (almost!) all the time.
7. We have a nice warm house with nice warm beds with plenty of blankets so we didn't realize that the heat wasn't running during the night.
8. I had enough time to pray this morning before my children woke up, even though I did not have time to read my Bible.
9. Breakfast was already ready; we had leftover chocolate chip muffins that John had baked yesterday.
10. Mary slept through breakfast, then woke up so we could go to the store.
11. Mary didn't cry the whole time we were at the store which she usually does. I imagine the looks I get with a crying baby would have been much worse with a crying baby and three other children.
12. We didn't get in a car wreck in the parking lot or on the way home.
13. We got home in plenty of time to do school.
14. The rest of the morning has gone fairly well.
15. The repairman will be here this afternoon to fix the heater.
16. It's warming up quickly outside, so the house is, too.

So the biggest thing for which I'm thankful is that God gave me such a difficult morning in order to show me how blessed I really am.

Have you had mornings like these? Ones where you realize paradoxically how blessed you really are?