Starting in September 2003, life-changing events have been falling over and over again in the Schroeder home. Not all events have been fully disclosed for a variety of reasons, and it was not until the November 2003 SDJ that any hint was given that something may be amiss at 215 Rainbow Drive. [See “Falling of the First Shoe”] Since than, shoes have been falling left and right. (get it?)
Perhaps the most life changing event to have happened in the past 23 weeks is God’s blessing us with the conception of another child. Yes, we’re pregnant with number 5; with a due-date in mid-May.
In the weeks preceeding the discovery of this news life had been – at best – frustrating. Our car gave us a $ 715 bill after six frustrating days of waiting for repair, Jordan and home schooling were not getting along, the kid’s behaviors with the neighbors were far less than desireable, my job had entered its seventh month of being dreadfully unfulfilling, management of our home’s internal belongings were chaotic, weight gain was displacing weight loss while still trying to recover from the illio-tibial band problems, and I broke my favorite coffee mug. During fits of extreme frustration experienced at these times I made a few, uncharacteristic, off-color comments about what I would like to with our increasingly disrespectful children – giving the strong impression that four of them was way more than enough. (Rest easy… I love them more than any other little creatures on this earth.)
One day I came home for lunch – after a frustrating morning of being harshly reminded by supervisors and colleagues alike that I have not been effective at accomplishing my tasks at work – to a chaotic, loud, tension filled house. I wanted to run away, but Deb needed to take care of an errand or two while I was home.
When she returned she found a disconnected husband sitting on the couch staring off into some undefinable zone as a result of overloaded parental circuts. I vented to her profusly about my day thus far; work, the car not being fixed on a day when we were to be heading to Lutsen as a family while I attend a confrerence, and the behavior of our apparently not-well adjusted children.
Deborah asked that since my morning was going so terribly anyway, if she could talk to me for a minute. Grunting, my first thought was “Oh GREAT! What did Jordan do THIS time?”. In the past week, Jordan (and Luke) had discovered that by standing on his bed the window could easily be opened; allowing for a quick exit down to the ground. He also discovered that by standing on the bed his butt was just high enough to be seen by the neighbors if he lowered his pants. And the week before he had taken the garden hose and was pretending to “pee” on the neighbor girls as they rode their bikes past him on the sidewalk. (It had not been a good week for acceptable behavior)
Dreading that Jordan had threatened the neighbor girls with a golf club again, I grudgingly followed Deborah in the bathroom. She locked the door, and walked over to the tub; sliding to shower curtain aside. Expecting to find a tub full of wild frogs I saw a familiar shape; purposly placed in the tub rail.
I walked over for a closer look at the pregnancy test. Studying it for what seemed like an eternity – as if it were an obscure calculus derivative – I finally realized that two lines were indeed present. All I could say was, “Oh my.”
Anyone with a child knows what that there is one sure way to turn your life priorities upside down, and we accomplished just that at a time when life seemed to be upside down. Though we’re still not even close to getting on track as a result of other, recent shoe-falling events too numerous to mention, I’m confident that in the next [hopefully] 17 weeks we’ll be back on track in time for the world to turn upside down once again.