Cure for the Thursday Funk

I mentioned yesterday that I have been a tad irritable this week.  There are atleast 147 reasons that have contributed to my mood, not the least of which being the fact that Eric has been out of town.  When things go south, it helps if he's here to help out, listen, defend or offer advice. 

But, he hasn't been here.  So, things went from bad to worse and it didn't seem like we could climb out from under the black cloud following us around.

I woke this morning begging God for the new mercies He promises in His Word.  What's sweeter (and maybe an even bigger testament to how our week has gone) is that my girls woke up asking for the same thing.

We needed some sunshine!

I committed to driving for Olivia's field trip this morning.  I admit I was less-than-thrilled because we were only going to our local grocery store.  In my mind, a trip to the grocery store is only successful if I get to actually buy things to cross off my never-ending grocery list.  Walking around listening to what the most popular fruit purchased is? .... not so much.  (By the way, it's bananas :)

But, Olivia was excited.  She was even trying to get us ready by blaring her favorite Veggie Tales CD while getting ready.  It half-worked ;)

The trip was a success.  A long-time family friend, who manages the store, is the one who took us on a tour which Olivia thought was 42 kinds of awesome that I knew someone 'famous'.  haha Also, she now wants to manage a grocery store.  Which is somewhat different from her career plan last week which was to be a school janitor.

I'm hoping our next field trip is to a hospital ... specifically to speak with a neuro-surgeon.

Yeah, that'll work.

So, after the field trip, I walked Olivia back to her classroom and walked down the hall to peek in on Emma.  She sat at her desk looking so sad.

I asked her teacher if I could talk to her for a few minutes.  In the hallway, Emma voiced what I have felt all week - discouraged and defeated. 

What to do? What to do?

I did the only thing I could think of.  I reassured her, sent her back to her classroom, waited another hour and then busted both of them out for lunch!

Such a small thing .... but, it felt like we were breaking some major rule and it felt good - ha!

We took an extra long lunch and I watched 2 happy girls walk back into school to finish out the day.

Now, our new saying to one another is "Let's finish strong!" We are all more than a tad burned out!

As I type this, Eric is on a plane heading home, the girls have their homework finished and are happily playing in the back yard with friends and I am starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. 

Oh, and I came home today to find these ...

... flowers from my Secret Encourager. 

Very timely.  Thank you! I know you read my blog :)

So, tomorrow is Friday! Praise! Praise! Praise!