Evening Expirations

          A good friend of mine took some of our girls over to her house for the evening, and asked what time I wanted them to come home. I said that around 8pm would be good. She made a joking comment about how past 8:30 it is hard to be a good parent...like we expire at that time. I couldn't agree more. I wish I could have a label on me that says," Go to bed by 8:30pm (or your sweet mother will turn into a head-spinning harpy)."
          The last few weeks have felt like a bit of a time warp when I get past seven o'clock. It doesn't seem to matter if I start getting the three youngest ready for bed at 7:30 or 9pm. It has still been almost 10:00pm before I get done and can go to bed. Part of me feels like I'm slowly spinning out of control, but the sensible part of me acknowledges that parenting takes time, that our lives have felt hectic lately, and that getting three little ones to bed and getting them to stay there is something that will get easier over time. I can get so caught up in what I feel I'm failing in that I forget to look at what I am ultimately accomplishing...putting three children to bed and giving a good close to their day, even if a little discipline is included.
           Even if I can't have my expiration clearly labeled, I can help my attitude with another evening expiration.  As a x-ray tech, I am all too familiar with another type of expiration. We have people exhale their air for certain exams like an abdominal x-ray. Performing an abdominal x-ray on expiration allows you to see a lot more in the picture. When I am stressed out, a good expiration can really help me to see the bigger picture too...especially when I am giving me cares over to God. At the end of the day, I used to rehash all the things that I did wrong during the day in my head...trying to think how I could do it differently next time and avoid the problem.  Now when those thoughts come to me, I expire those as  prayers back up to God. At night, I am almost constantly dialoging with God. "I'm tired, God...and they are misbehaving again!" Breathe out. The thought pops into my head, "If they don't stop misbehaving, tell them their cuddle time is over." Breathe in. "I just want my night to be over, God." Breathe out. "Hang in there! Set a timer, so you both know when it's time to leave the room. " Breathe in.
       As I expire my problems to God.  He inspires new solutions to my problems. This last Saturday, we were contacted with a new offer on our house. This offer is not an all-out offer to buy the house right now. It is an offer contigent on their house selling. In fact, they are putting our house on the market in order to buy our house. As we were trying to come to an acceptable agreement,  I felt frustrated. It was the end of the day, when I was tired and ready to be done. I was scrubbing the girl's hair for their bath while talking and texting back and forth to my husband. My hubby made the comment of praying about the issue. Breathe out. I began to ask God if I was being unreasonable about one aspect of the negotiations,  and a new thought flew into my head that I don't think I would've come up with on my own...a very good reason that made our position understandable. Breathe in. When I shot the idea to my hubby,  it made sense to him too. We ran it by the realtor,  and she agreed with it too. Yesterday, we signed a new-contract that we could both agree on. Since it is contingent on them selling their house, we will continue to show ours. If someone else makes a better offer, they have a window of time to come up with that money; or we can sell the house to the new person. Yesterday, as we left the house to show it again before my daughter's birthday party, I realized I felt completely at peace. That is totally a God thing. He is with me every step of my day...just waiting to breathe inspiration into me, when I feel ready to expire.

What do you need to expire?  If you'd like to leave a comment,  I will be happy to pray with you about it.