So… yesterday. Thank goodness it’s over.

I ran around like a chicken with my head cut off until 2:00 (did you see the recent article about the chicken with it’s head cut off that’s still “thriving” after a week?!). That’s when my son, Adrian (A3), and I went and rented a 90-lb jackhammer and air compressor and we (A3) demolished our front porch down past the first step. This was a last minute demolition so we could get our new porch and ramp today… so it had to be done. And it couldn’t be done until I met with the contractor at 2:00. So anyway… A3 (who miraculously had the day off from the Fire Station, just an evening class to attend) jackhammered like a madman while I moved rubble from 3:00-5:15. It was at that time that I was down to 15 minutes to get J’onn, Cory, Eva, Israel, Benjamin and my sweaty self ready for church. After a whirlwind readiness campaign, we stopped for some McD’s near church, eventually arriving on time and heading to our respective classes.

Now, I love my class Wednesday nights. I am the teacher in the Pre-K room (4 year olds) and do their craft with them, then trade kids with the three-year-olds and do their craft while my kids are having lesson time, then we trade back again. Oh, and Benjamin stays with me because he is far happier watching a bunch of big kids play and soaking up the sounds rather than screaming his head off in the otherwise quiet, calm baby’s room. Anyway…. Usually I have about 10 kids (Madeline wasn’t there because there was no front porch to connect to her ramp so she was trapped inside) so I only had 7 kids last night. I mean- I take more kids than that to Target on a regular basis. So I don’t know how the 2 hours was so crazy it seemed like 30 minutes.

Anyway, when all was said and done, I was exhausted. After rounding up all the kids, and finding Clara and Presley (who had gone to church early for other activities), I just wanted to go home and go to bed. I did know that since it was a late night for Adrian, I would have to iron the same uniform he had worn that day for the next day and pack his (pre-made) lunch up once I got home, but that would be quick, then I was going to melt into my memory foam mattress and play dead for 8 hours.

On the way home I was telling the kids that I just wanted their help and for everyone to do what they know they need to do to get themselves and the little kids ready for bed. That’s when the State Patrol turned his lights on and pulled me over.

Now, there have been plenty of times I have deliberately broken the speed limit and deserved a ticket. There have been plenty of times my stomach did a little flip-flop and I said to myself, “Please don’t pull me over!” But not last night. Once I saw him pull into traffic I knew I must have been speeding, but since I had no idea how fast I had been going before my foot had instinctively stepped on the brake, (Doesn’t everyone automatically do that when we see law enforcement?) my stomach never even flipped let alone flopped. I wasn’t surprised when he told me I was going 68 in a 55, I was just thankful it wasn’t 78… because I really wasn’t paying attention.

Oh, and my friend, Christi, passed me right after I handed the Trooper my license and registration, so I was texting her. She actually pulled over about a half mile ahead to text me back and wait… maybe to see if she needed to rescue my kids after I was arrested on several out of state felony warrants. Good thinking, Christi! So glad the Trooper didn’t see those on his computer!

Anyway… after getting home, Adrian told me his clothes from that day were too dirty and they would be having inspection the next day, so I would need a different uniform. This was 12 hours after he told me the trick of getting the awful stains out of his uniform pants from grass and oily tractor tires (deposited during training exercises) was to soak them in Oxyclean for 24 hours. (exasperated face here) So Clara put the still-soaking pants on a speed wash for me… and she even dried them and had them to me in 2 hours. Unfortunately, this was an hour after Adrian told me I could iron them in the morning because he had a late day the next day. (crying face here- for me AND Clara)

Now it is after 11:00 and I just want to go to bed. But at some point during my crazy day someone- some kid- had spilled water ALL OVER my side of the bed. Not a little spot. ALL OVER. THROUGH ALL THE LAYERS AND INTO THE MATTRESS. (sobbing face here) So Benjamin and I slept on the sofa. Slept may be pushing it. Intermittently napped is more like it.

Now we are at today. A3 and I woke up early- he had to return the air compressor and jack hammer while I continued to move rubble. But before I got outside, Benjamin rolled off the sofa onto pillows and was crying (in his sleep it seemed). Cory, who had joined us on the sofa earlier, was, while still sleeping, trying to pull Benjamin up by 1 arm back onto the sofa. But you see, we just got a new, awesome, rotatable glass table. I had rotated it toward the sofa the night before and while Cory was puling on Benjamin’s arm, his face was pinned under the glass. That’s when the “real” crying started. I grabbed Benjamin, just in time to keep his arm in the socket, and Cory stayed asleep.

Clara did get even with him for Benjamin’s sake. She sacrificed him to the neighbor’s dog- twice- as she moved a fence board and squeezed him through to retrieve her ball. His high pitched squeal probably terrified the dog more than the dog terrified him.

Oh, and my husband, Officer Howell. Love him! His comments this morning… “Now I’m the one who enforces the law and you break it.” “You have no proof I have ever had a speeding ticket, but I have a ticket here to prove you are a speeder.” Says the man with a lead foot. So then he sends this text to his buddy at State Patrol and asked him to forward it to the Trooper who pulled me over:

Thank you for ticketing my wife last night. We have been married for 24 years but she’s been speeding for 28 years and this was her first speeding ticket, so it’s well deserved. Thank you.

No worries here, with his new job we get LegalShield at a low rate, so my attorney has already seen my ticket and we’ve talked. Not a problem.

It all just makes me glad I don’t have to try to finagle my way out of my many sins like I am doing with my speeding ticket. “Redeemed” is stamped in red letters on the front cover of the book of my life. Open it up and there’s a bunch of redacted lines- and paragraphs- things I’ve done that no longer count against me because Jesus is my defending attorney and Judge. I gladly and ever so thankfully accept His payment in full for my sins (the wages of which are death and eternal separation from God). In light of this, nothing else matters. I just want to magnify him forever in gratitude and awe of His mercy and grace. I eagerly await the day I can lay my crowns at his feet in worship. I can’t even think about it without crying.

In light of this, I hope you all have a very blessed Resurrection Sunday as you consider the price Jesus willingly paid for you, and as you worship the Risen King!