Perspective

I read this short story last week during my morning devotional that I thought was worth sharing. 
A boy once said to God, "I've been thinking, and I know what I want when I become a man."  He proceeded to give God his list: to live in a big house with two Saint Bernards and a garden; marry a blue-eyed, tall, beautiful woman; have three sons-one who will be a senator, one a scientist and one a quarterback.  He also wanted to be an adventurer who climbed tall mountains, and to drive a red Ferrari.
As it turned out, the boy hurt his knee one day while playing football.  He could no longer climb tree, much less mountains. He married a beautiful and kind woman, who was short and had brown eyes.  Because of his business, he lived in a city apartment, took cabs, and rode subways.  He had three loving daughters, and they adopted a fluffy cat.  One daughter became a nurse, another an artist and the third a music teacher.
One morning the man awoke and remembered his boyhood dream.  He became extremely depressed, so depressed that he became very ill.  Close to death from a broken heart, he called out to God, "Remember when I was a boy and told You all the things I wanted?  Why didn't You give me those things?"
"I could have," said God, "but I wanted to make you happy."
God always gives His best to those who leave the choice with Him.

It's important to have the right perspective on things that happen when you have children for sure!  When we focus on ourselves our perspective is skewed.
A few things in the past week I had the opportunity to have a good perspective on:
Andrew decided it would be a good idea to pour most of the contents of a brand new bottle of shampoo on the bathroom floor and he smeared it all around too!  I could have been very upset about this, but I saw this as an opportunity to clean the floor on my hands and knees and give it a good scrub...I mean he had already put the soap down for me.  The floor was squeaky clean, and it smelled like lavender.  :)
He also decided to sneak a tube of toothpaste out of Mommy and Daddy's bathroom and squeezed it on our "wood" floors.  Well, who knew that toothpaste could buff those floors up like new!  We had a minty fresh smell that day, and Andrew had the opportunity to help me "clean" the floors again.  He'll make someone a great husband one day with all his cleaning skills he is learning at an early age.
If you have been around Kaitlyn for any period of time, you know she has a great imagination.  She likes to pretend to be different animals and has names for herself.  Dog-Violet, Cat-Petunia, and Bunny-Bun-Bun.  This can be nerve grating when she stays in character for an extended period of time, but if I keep the right perspective and realize this pretending phase will only last for a short time it makes me enjoy it that much more.  It makes me relish in her sweetness and innocence.
Kaitlyn also came out of the bathroom one morning and said she had cleaned her earrings all by herself.  Now, the OCD part of me wanted to say, "Well, I think Mommy should get a turn to clean them also," but she was so proud of herself.  I told her I was proud of her for being so responsible and just said a little prayer there was no bacteria in the ears that day!  Lol.
I had to go buy clothes for the kids to start school-especially Kaitlyn.  She only had three outfits from last fall that we could recycle again.  I came home and gave Shannon the receipt, he came close to freaking out, but to help him keep it all in perspective I crunched the numbers for him and showed him I only spent an average of $6.86 on each piece of clothing.  Then, he really appreciated my smart, savvy shopping!
I am about to start my graduate classes for Counseling tonight.  I'm super nervous and excited, but I know that in keeping the right perspective everything will work itself out.  I have been working with a group of Teen Moms that I have grown to love, and I won't be able to work with them any more because I have class when they meet.  I am so sad about this, but I also try to remember that the new skills I am learning will enable me to help so many more people as I go along in life.
So that's a little synopsis of my perspective from our house the past week.  I hope you all have a fabulous week!  Thanks for checking out Watt's Going On!