All's Well That Ends Well 3/7/10

This morning didn't start off so great. It was downright awful actually.

I think I should start by saying that yesterday Jake had green yuck pouring out of his nose all day, and I could tell he felt crummy. I was alternating between Motrin and Mucinex to help break things up and relieve aches (if he had any) which definitely helped. And I know this helped because he slept great last night and when he woke up this morning, his nose was clear, and his attitude was much brighter. I, too, woke up feeling great, so I immediately jumped in the shower to start getting ready for church.

I think now comes the part where I also need to tell you that Jim, too, has had the "crud" for more than a week now, and he, too, is in the complete yuck phase.

Now back to me getting out of the shower...

So, I got out of shower and made my way to Jake's room to pick out what he would wear. But in the mean time, Jim's decision not to go to church (because he feels like pure crap) I felt, had rubbed off on Jake, especially after he was given a choice of whether or not to go. I had overheard Jim asking Jake if he had rather stay home with him, and it infuriated me. This sparked a huge amount of drama with me getting Jake dressed for church, and that infuriated me even more. Amazingly through it all I didn't get the, "I don't want to go to church" defiance that I have before (only once, though, thank the Lord), but I was still extremely upset.

The damage was done, and by this time I was livid, and I let all my feelings spill out. I explained to Jim that Jake is only 3, and at this point in his life, we are in control of his "choice" to go to church. One day, we won't be, and if we haven't laid the groundwork for him that church is the most important place on Earth that he can choose to go, then he just might not make the decision to go. I also reminded him that Jake is an answer to many prayers, and I won't ever let go of that. I won't forget that because we prayed, God chose to bless us with Jake, and our duty is to give Jake back to Him. And part of doing that is to teach Jake to love Him and to put Him first in his life. If we don't do that as his parents, we have failed him in every way.

But in Jim's eyes, he wasn't "allowing" Jake or giving him a "choice" to stay home from church for no reason. He was simply sympathizing with how he thought Jake felt in the terms of his runny nose and crummy attitude. So he raised his voice in return and said that it's no different than me asking him what he wants to eat or what he wants to wear to school. My reply..."No way, Hosea! This is a BIG difference. We're talking about eternal matters here. Not clothes or food that don't really matter in the grand scheme of things!" I continued by asking him if we would keep him home from school by the looks of him and give in to him just because he didn't want to get dressed to go. Jim fired back at me, and told me I was just PMS-ing (no disagreement there).

At this point I left the room with my final comment being that I was getting dressed, and Jake would be in the car when it pulled out of the garage. I returned to the kitchen to find him putting Jake's shoes on, I gave him a kiss, told him I loved him, and off we went. Church went great, and I was super glad that we went.

But what I'm not super glad about was the argument that transpired early this morning. It never feels good to disagree, and I felt awful for crawling all over Jim for wanting to keep Jake at home. In all aspects, he was just looking out for his well-being and the well-being of other kids he would come in contact with.

And even though we still tend to "disagree" on who was right and who was wrong, we both see each other's points. Apologies have been made, and we have since then kissed and made up (literally). And it wasn't exactly the most smooth start to our day, but the day has ended beautifully with us working together on some imside and outside chores (is this possible...there are still more after yesterday's cleaning frenzy?...oh yes...always!) and sharing a steak dinner that Jim prepared for us on the grill. Mmmm....

Guess all's well that ends well, right?