Just Keep Swimming

As I watched the weather forecast yesterday afternoon it showed steady rain chances for our area over the next 5 days. Rain is one of my favorite things, but with little kids, it can sure mess up any outdoor plans you have, and after so many days of staying inside with 3 toddlers all day long, it gets a little..hectic! Andy got home from work and after mowing the yard, we both instantly knew we should take the kids out to the pool while we could today, before the rain got here!

Quick swimsuit changes and we were by the pool, ready to relax and have some fun. It's only Wednesday, and by last night me and my husband were maxed out with our stress levels, so relaxing and having fun in the pool sounded amazing! As I set there with my feet in the water, watching the kids swimming and splashing around laughing and smiling I could feel my mood lightening and I could see it on Andy's face that he was relaxing, which made me instantly start thinking about Dory from Finding Nemo singing, "Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming." In this case it was literally, just keep swimming. But in my mind it was so much more, it was a gentle reminder that no matter what happens in life you have to keep on going.

Everyone faces obstacles, challenges, and unexpected twists and turns, but how you handle them in the moment and how you decide to move forward makes all of the difference! This past weekend we had driven a couple of hours away to Odessa, Texas to visit my husbands family and to show them our new car. A few weeks ago we had made the decision to purchase a new car, we found a brand new Dodge Charger in the color "Go Mango" (bright orange!) We were over the moon with our purchase. We'd looked for over 6 months before finally deciding on THIS car. So when we decided to go to Odessa this weekend we were both super excited to take our new purchase and show it to our family down there!

So there we went, and somewhere between Abilene and Odessa we rolled over 1,000 miles in the car and we both smiled! This was such a new purchase still that we hadn't even received our license plates from the dealership yet. We celebrated our Anniversary on Saturday night and we woke up on Sunday and had a great visit with family, loaded up the car and kids, and went to leave to come back home. Only to find out that the car wouldn't start. Not only would it not start, it was making all sorts of crazy noises and flashing lights. Now, when we bought this car it was so that we would have 2 reliable cars to get us both back and forth between work and school. So that neither of us had to be worried about being stranded on the side of the road with kids in the car. And there we were. Our first trip in the brand new car, 3 hours away from home, 3 kids in the car, and Stuck like Chuck, on a Sunday afternoon!!

After a quick panic and freak out session, my husbands parents were nice enough to lend us one of their vehicles to get home in. A call to the insurance company insured it would be towed first thing in the morning to the nearest Dodge dealership. But then what? We haven't even received our license plates, or a payment book, or anything on this car, and here it was, broke down 3 hours from home. To say we were quiet on the ride home would be an understatement. The kids passed out the minute we got on the road, and we were both miserable in the front seats. This SHOULDN'T happen. This is WHY we added a second vehicle, this is why you buy a brand new car, so that this WOULDN'T happen. My brain was racing, who do I call first? What do you do in this situation? Is it going to be a small or large fix? When would we find time to get the car back between our work and school schedules?

Later that evening, I turned up the radio when a pop song that we have a long standing inside joke with came on. My husband smiled, I smiled back and we both laughed. It was then that I reiterated what I had said earlier, but this time we both actually heard it. We HAD to trust that God knew what he was doing. Our car troubles had delayed us over 2 hours getting home, and for whatever reason He didn't want us on the road, in the orange car, at that exact time. Would we ever know why or fully understand it? Nope, bet money not. But, that is faith! We were both at peace with that and went on with our day. But Monday held a whole new load of stress as I spent endless hours on the phone with the dealership where we bought the car, the dealership where it was getting worked on, and Chrysler too. It's amazing how quickly working on something like that can wear you down. This had blindsided us so much, and upset us so much, and put us out SO much.

And all of that is really easy to fixate on. Until you physically STOP and realize, that while it all seems like it's the most important thing going on. That it's actually all irrelevant. It's irritating, that's for sure. But my goodness, it's irrelevant in the grand scheme of this thing called Life. As I set there last night and watched my happy kids play in the pool, and my husband toss them around and laugh and smile with them, I remembered that THIS is what life is truly about, no matter what you have to deal with in between it all. We all got home safe, we were all still together, and now we were all happy for the moment. How could you ask for more? So I snapped a few pictures of the kids, set my phone down and got in to swim with my sweet family!

And when I woke up this morning, I knew I'd have phone call after phone call to make yet again, and more stress to weigh down on me. This process is far from being over! But with all of that being said I will hold on to last night and use the "Just Keep Swimming" mantra as I handle whatever steps it takes to get this situation fully corrected. Finding the strength to be grateful in the midst of a small crisis isn't the easiest thing to do, but it's worth everything if you can manage! So I hope with whatever you're facing, whether it's large or small, you look ahead and Just Keep Swimming too!