Leaky Dishwashers and Surprise Gift Baskets

'He giveth more grace as our burdens grow greater,
He sendeth more strength as our labors increase;
To added afflictions He addeth His mercy,
To multiplied trials he multiplies peace.
When we have exhausted our store of endurance,
When our strength has failed ere the day is half done,
When we reach the end of our hoarded resources
Our Father’s full giving is only begun.
His love has no limits, His grace has no measure,
His power no boundary known unto men;
For out of His infinite riches in Jesus
He giveth, and giveth, and giveth again.'


Jared and I were talking tonight about how hard parenting Princess Petunia is right now. He described it well; it is a marathon just like parenting our own biological children, except that in this marathon, we more than likely won't see the finish line. Perhaps a better track and field analogy (I'm SO ready for the Olympics!) would be the relay. We're just running this leg of the race for PP's mom. And odds are, she'll be the one finishing the race. We're toiling during this season, and she'll be the one to see the fruit. 


I felt so convicted earlier this evening during church. God revealed to my heart that one big reason why I'm finding parenting Princess Petunia so hard just might be because it is exposing the sin in my own heart: selfishness, idolatrous desire for comfort, discontentment. And who enjoys that, right? It's not any fun to realize that your life just might not be about you. ;)  It's not any fun to remember that we're not called to be comfortable or (gasp!) happy, but to be holy and Christ-like. 


Our afternoon was a little snapshot of what our fostering journey has been thus far. The girls were having a tea party, and I told them that I would join them as soon as I finished the dishes. I loaded the dishwasher, started it, and sent a couple of texts. As I put the phone down and began heading out of the kitchen, I heard what sounded like water dripping onto the tile floor. After an inward groan (which soon became an audible shriek), I turned around and sure enough, there was water dripping from the bottom of our two-month-old dishwasher. I yelled for the girls to bring towels, and the three of us started frantically trying to maintain the leak while I called Jared who thankfully was only a few minutes from the house. He told me how to shut the water off to the house as that seemed to be the only way to stop the dishwasher from trying to fill itself and the entire kitchen with water. When he came home, he walked in the front door holding a basket filled with random toys and stuffed animals that he said he found sitting on our front porch. I just had to smile. 


So much of our lives look just like this afternoon. Some crazy, dramatic frustration or complication occurs out of nowhere. We all frantically work together to try and stop the madness, and then sometimes, we find a seemingly random blessing waiting for us when we least expect it.