One Heart in the Right Place.... make that 2!

Friday (7-29-10) was an interesting day for me.  It started out pretty low, I was bummed that I had not been able to work out for various reasons and finally because I just gave up the fight.  Then breakfast went haywire, and getting off to Swimming lessons.... it was all just really not the way I wanted, and I was in a little bit of a funk.  It's always really hard for me to get out of that funk for some reason.  But on Friday I had a little help.  This is going to sound redundant I'm sure.  I am always having a bad day and then one little thing goes right and it feels like a new day.  So sorry if this is annoying.  Apparently I need constant reminders that I am doing okay.  So, the first half hour went normal, Brad was a pill getting out, his teacher was annoyed and I can always feel the glares from the other moms because he takes up a lot of attention, but it was the last day of the session so I decided to just ignore it that day.  Then we went into the other pool for Charity's lesson.  This area is just nuts.  We have to sit up in the bleachers and since there were only 2 other ladies up there my kids just roamed around to their hearts content.  It started out pretty mellow, and I was totally fine with them just doing their thing, but slowly, as the session went on, they got more and more rambunctious.  Not to mention Erika seemed to slowly lose interest and needed more of my attention or feeding, so it was difficult to keep the other 4 under control.  The second week however, I managed to bribe them with "blue dots" so they were doing better.  But everyday I sat there wondering what this lady behind me was thinking of me.  Worrying is probably a better word for it.  She had a front row seat to the chaos.  The running around up and down the stairs, across the benches, Noah falling and coming too close to cracking his head open, Kelly's tantrums, Brad's constant potty breaks..... she had to be thinking I was nuts.  And I think I'm justified feeling paranoid, I have had MANY people share their not so friendly, negative feelings about my parenting, with me.  I wish it wasn't so hard for me to get past that stuff, but this is my life.  This is what I do.  If I can't do this right, then what do I have!!!  And I'm getting better at remembering who the real judge of that is, so anyway..... I was just feeling really grateful that this was the last day.... So, at one point I turned my head enough that I caught a glimpse of this lady behind me and so she reached down to get my attention, and said, "Hey, I just have to tell you...." I totally got nervous at this point, nothing in her voice was telling me this wasn't going to end bad.... I could hear her saying, "I just have to tell you I called the police and told them what an unfit mother you are, they will be waiting for you outside when class is over...." or something ya know.  But luckily she said this instead, ".... You are the cutest mom!  I've got 6 kids as well.  I've been watching you this last two weeks and just been impressed with how good you are with your kids and with juggling all their different needs.  Feeding the baby and catching the toddler as he falls at the same time!......" She went on and honestly, I had tears in my eyes.  HOpefully I hid them well enough, but it was just SO what I needed to hear at the moment.  And I don't know if I realized that I needed to hear it so badly until I heard it.  She was so sweet.  I immediately had to thank my Heavenly Father for putting someone like her in my path.  She really had her heart in the right place to be so generous with her compliments.  She made my day.  I felt all rejuvenated for the last half of class.  It totally reminded me of that Micheal Mclean song "One Heart in the Right Place"  I tried to find the lyrics to put on here, but I couldn't find them quick enough.  It's a great song though if you want to look it up yourself.  Basically it talks about how tiny little things can have huge impacts.  This one did for me.  So THEN here's the crazy thing.  As we were leaving.  Well, we were blocking the hallway as we all got our necessary drink from the drinking fountain.  Apparently that LONG 3 minute drive home is just too long to wait when you're dying of thirst.  Anyway, this lady who had her own "hands full" stopped to say something really sweet. "You have such a cute family!  I love seeing people with big families like ours.  We like big families.  It's been fun to see you with your kids here everyday."  How sweet is that.  We talked for a minute about the close in age, lots of kids situation and it was a total bonding moment :)  I love those kinds of talks.  There aren't many people who have as many kids as close in age as us, so it's fun when I find someone who does and loves it like I do.  She too had an impact on me and made me smile.  It was really a nice change than the usual comments I hear.  So anyway.  I do enough complaining about the negative comments, I thought it was time to be more uplifting.  If you ever feel like someone's doing a good job with their kids, TELL THEM!!  It can only be a good thing, and you might make someone's day!