Today was going to be a FANTABULOUS day…
it was…it really was…
I woke up feeling somewhat better, my daughter was ready to go by 7:30 and minimal fighting…
I dropped them off at school came home, grabbed my Bible and journal ready for my quiet time…
As I settled in on the couch I decided that I wanted to top off my coffee…
Let me back up…
One of the things that I have been praying about and working on is facing my fears instead of running from them…I have a mouse…I mentioned that when I spoke of the meltdown last week…
(Actually, I have more than one…but more on that in a moment…)
It was more of a fear to me to see the mouse dead, in a trap, than it was to know that he was running amuck in my kitchen…kind of the old ignorance is bliss kinda deal… (sometimes, I sound SO stupid, even though I know that I’m not… )
Matthew has no issues with mice — dead or alive. He gladly volunteered to look at the traps in the morning before I woke up and dispose of any mice that were caught. (Let’s get over the fact that my 10 year old is braver than me for JUST a moment…talk about feeling salty!)
We had two glue traps left from the last time…I decided we would put them out… THIS MORNING! What better time to do this? In the back of my mind, in hindsight, it really wasn’t facing a fear…I say this because I wasn’t expecting to catch anything. The last time we got a grasshopper…
So…topping off my coffee before I settle in to read the first five chapters of Joshua….
I go to the kitchen…I turn the corner and as I’m about to open the refridgerator door I see them…
TWO mice… IN the glue trap… WRIGGLING AROUND!!!!!!!!
I raced from the kitchen and do what ANYONE else would do upon discovering TWO mice on their countertop stuck in glue…
I IM Lisa…to exclaim to her what just happened at my house…. (as if there is ANYTHING that she can do…)
It’s now 8:15am…the traps had only been out an hour before I made my discovery.
I’m going on and on to Lisa…I finally tell her that I’ll call Adam (my neighbor…who I normally have trouble asking for help from…but not today…) I wait until I see the guys working on his house pull up…then I call…I leave a message because he doesn’t answer (how DARE he, I have wriggling mice in my kitchen….) and go back to rambling…
Lisa says, “The way I see it, you have two choices…you can face your fears and go in and remove the mice yourself or you can wait for Adam to call you back…”
I decided to wait…UNTIL they started squeeking….and not quiet, cute squeeking…it was the “I’m stuck in a mousetrap and I know that I’m going to die” kind of squeek.
Lisa wanted me to take them outside and get them off the glue…getting them outside was an issue..
(Don’t I sound like such a girl?)
The short of it is…after I made my mind up that I was going in…I prayed, asked Him to come with me, and off we went…several times but eventually… one black trash bag, one valentine’s heart shaped candy box, and one spatula later…the mice were removed.
I return to the computer and tell Lisa that they are gone…she wants to know if they took the trap with them…I tell her that they are gone and that I got rid of them…
“All by youself?” she asks… “Nah, I had the Big Man with me,” I replied….
Who knew people would be so proud of me because I removed some mice?
With the mice behind me, I retreat into the living room to read Joshua…I wish I would’ve read this before I tackled the mice….
“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” — Joshua 1:9 (NIV)
Well, He was with me in the kitchen alright… 
(Sidenote: Joshua was fascinating…I can’t wait to see what happens… I say to Lisa that I was bummed when I got to the end of today’s reading and she says “Did you see how it ends?” and I said, “No, because you told me not to read more” — Apparently she didn’t want me to get overwhelmed with it…I can understand that…but I might sneak back in there and see what happens before next week…)
As if the mice weren’t enough to give me a heart attack, I look out my office window and there is a white van and a police car…
Trying not to be the nosey neighbor, I continue working until I see the cop back into my driveway…
I’m not harboring any fugitive here…there are no drugs…so I can’t figure out why this cop would be pulling in my drive way and then… WALKING UP TO MY DOOR!!!
I answer the door (freaking out, because that’s what I do when a cop is around even though I’ve done NOTHING wrong…) and it’s Jason…yeah… I was at his house for the Superbowl and will be there this Sunday for a Pampered Chef party…. talk about breathing a huge sigh of relief…he was just telling me that someone backed into our mailboxes but that they were being fixed…
Yeah, so at least I know my beat cop now…and that I’m being watched over…but I don’t need the added stress or the racing heart twice in one day…
Now, let’s fast forward…it’s been a long day..I’m taxed emotionally, and physically too…I’m still not back up to full speed…
I get Matt to practice, we get the grocery shopping done, I come home to make dinner and I decide pancakes…because with pancakes, I don’t have to fight Samara to eat them…right?
All kids love pancakes…
I decide to try something new, but like an idiot, I do it in front of her… (a friend suggested using applesauce in the pancake mix) and of course she freaks out…I sighed and just went on doing what I was doing…
she ate them… (why, I don’t know…but she did) and she liked them…
WOW! Major accomplishment for me…my daughter tried something new….
It’s late and I wanted to get this all out before I forgot…it was a tiring day…but I made it through…
…and if the kids are alive at the end of the day then I’ve done my job…
Until next time…
Heather
{ 2 comments }
You are a better woman than me… I would’ve marched over to the neighbor’s and BEGGED him to come get the mice out IMMEDIATELY while I hide in the car or somewhere completely out of sight and hearing distance!! I HATE MICE!!!!!
I’m the same way you are about them – alive, they’re cute and furry. Dead, they’re gross and stinky.
I told my husband from the get-go that the glue traps were out of the question. I was afraid something like this would happen!
And good on you for taking God with you to do the dirty work. I wish I’d thought about that, instead of just praying that I wouldn’t find anything on the traps.
(Kinda like going door-to-door to invite people to church, and praying no one will be home!)
Comments on this entry are closed.