Why is it that when you meet someone, fall in love, get married, have children and think you have the most wonderful life, that immediately when you think everything is perfect, stuff starts to break? As I sit here with no clean socks, lamenting the death of my washing machine this weekend, I am kind of looking back over the last seven years and thinking, "Geeesh, we've had a lot of stuff break." Our family motto is "What's broke now??"

Where to start? With lawnmowers that don't run, a very special 85 Blazer that made my husband get really skinny for awhile as he was always walking and burning lots of calories cursing, a furnace go out, a dead dishwasher, a jammed garbage disposal, sewer lines in our basement back up, Blazer breaking again, air conditioning not working, Hey, Rick, the Blazer broke again? Well, you get the idea. It's just been one thing after another. I walk very carefully in my house now in fear that something will break just by my looking at it too long or walking by it.

See, life likes to fool us. We work our butts off, just finally start to get caught up on bills and get that foolish notion that we might actually be able to put some money away, then wham, I have a washer with a transmission that has gone out. And would someone PLEASE explain to me why we have these stupid service contracts on everything in our house, and the only thing that they never cover is the stuff that goes wrong at my house?

I was really angry earlier today. I even kicked said washing machine in frustration, and it really didn't make me feel any better at all. I sat here feeling sorry for myself that I have to go to the laundromat as I cannot afford to get a new washer. As I was dragging the clothes into the laundromat with my three children, it dawned on me how lucky I was.

That broken washer? It was bought for me by a husband that adores me. That broken washer? It was worn out from cleaning mud pies, spilled Cheerios and finger paint off the clothes of my three beautiful, healthy children that God blessed me with. That broken washer? I spent an hour at the laundromat playing silly games with my babes, and laughed so much that 6 hours later, my ribs are still a bit sore. That broken washer has shown me just how wonderful my life really is, and how unimportant that stupid washer really is.

So, God has blessed me with many things, and somehow, I will find a way to get a new washer. What have I learned? Things are never as bad as they seem. Rick and I have been through some awful rough times, and somehow, we always come out stronger. There are more important things than "stuff". Stuff can be replaced. An hour of laughing with my children, now that is priceless. As each year passes, things become clearer, possessions mean so much less, and laughter and love have become oh so much more precious. So, take a moment, hug your children, kiss your husband, call your mother, just to tell her you love her. Trust me, doing the laundry can wait. I guarantee it. Things aren't nearly as broke as they seem sometimes, it all just depends on how you look at it....

Until next time...



Jenny Wanderscheid
Founder & CEO ChildFun, Inc
http://childfun.com
http://coloringbookfun.com