Rejoice in the Lord Always

I remember learning a song in Sunday School: "Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice!" Ironically, that was the song that popped into my head the other day when I came downstairs from using the restroom to find my daughter eating leaves from a plant, the dog had muddy paw prints from front door to back, and somehow or other, just about everything I'd put away the night before to 'tidy' up the house was all over. I had been gone maybe two minutes, but it didn't seem to matter to those two.

So, imagine my surprise when Sunday afternoon, I'm weeding in the back, humming that song, and I hear Todd in the background getting frustrated at Lani and Em. I chuckled, and kept weeding. Only to have Todd come out of the house a few minutes later with a barely diapered baby in his arms and disheveled dog trailing and he yells from the back door, "You are never allowed to die on me!" and walks away. This prompted hysterical laughter from me, and I was still laughing when Todd came and sat next to me ten minutes later exhausted. I asked him what happened, and he grumbled something incoherent. All I was able to make out was, "if I had to chose your job or mine, I'd pick mine in a HEARTBEAT!" For this stay-at-home-mom who seems to be going crazy from using the same dozen words all day, that was the best thing my husband could have said to make me feel loved and appreciated... I still have no idea what the dog and daughter did, but I know that when I have to stop one from eating the other's food, stop them both from eating dirt, digging up grass, or trying to escape, the Lord and my husband fully understand the frustration I feel at that moment. What a sweet, sweet thought!