I experienced grace today

It's been a long time since I got to sit with Tim in church.  It's hard, finding a place for the stroller to go, a place with four chairs, a place I can get out of easily, a place that's in the back so people don't get distracted by the potential barf catching, the nose wiping, the feeding, etc..

Last night Tim and I worked so hard to get to bed early so we could get to church on time.  I made Ilse's blend, I got her diaper bag ready; we were good.  It was still late when I got to bed, though, and I was up in the night with Ilse, but Tim still managed to get me out of bed this a.m. by promising me coffee.  So, we rushed.  We rushed and we got out of the house only 30 minutes after we had wanted to.  We had time for coffee and we got to church 15 minutes early.  Yes, we did give ourselves tons of extra time, because we know how hard it is to get out of the house with this Ilse.

Then, there were no seats where we could sit together, with the stroller, etc..

I lost it.  After all that work, all that preparation, NOT to get to sit by my husband?  I just couldn't handle it.  I retreated to the nursery where I cried my eyes out. 

My friend Laura found me.  She loves me.  She hugged me and then she took the time to fix the problem.  I was so grateful.  Humiliated, but grateful.  She showed grace to me.

When we were on the way home, Tim told me that next time we just need to plan on leaving earlier so we can get to the church by 8:30 instead of 9.  "So we have to tell ourselves we need to leave the house at 7:45am?  That is so WEIRD!  No one does that."

Tim said, "It's ok.  Just remember, we can be weird, because as far as everyone knows, we're a nice, normal family." 

I laughed.  I love him.

Thanks, Laura.