They Came. They Cleaned. They Conquered! A visit from the cleaning fairies

Is there anything more therapeutic than a clean home?

Today was a first for me, but before I continue, let me explain my state of being this morning.

-The Build-up-

For the second weekend in a row I took care of some friends kids (4 in addition to my own= 7 kids) all weekend. The previous week it took nearly a full week to clean up from the havoc wrecked. After watching kids on Sunday morning and leaving my house destroyed in order to make it to church on time (all with Rob out of town, by the way)

I returned home from church with enough energy to turn on a movie for the kids and crash on the couch for a nap, still ignoring the mess. With this pregnancy, I've had less energy than ever. Either you forget a lot after 4 years or being 4 years older and being pregnant is a lot harder. Anyways, I managed to whip up a nutritious dinner of apples and caramel dip (hey, apples are healthy) and turned on another movie-this time I watched with the kids. After putting the kids in bed I actually had enough energy to load the dishes in dishwasher and put a load of laundry in washing machine (the kids wore swim suits under their dresses to church because they were out of clean underwear) before I crashed. I completely ignored the rest of the house which looked like a tornado hit, literally.

-The Meltdown-

When I woke up this morning my attitude about service and motherhood was so bad I purposely continued to ignore the house- my way of rebelling. After taking Maycie to preschool and calling a couple friends to cry over the phone about my horrible weekend and destroyed house, I headed to the gym for some child-free exercise solitude.

-The Miracle-

An hour and a half later I walked into my house to the smell of something foreign-cleanliness. That was my first clue. The fact that I could see my floor was the second clue. Not only was the clutter picked up, but my floors were washed and vacuumed, my bathrooms cleaned and fresh flowers on the table, but my fridge was stocked with pregnant lady treats (caffeine free diet coke and chewy chocolate chip cookies).

The three good cleaning fairies had worked their magic. I can honestly say that was one of the nicest things anyone has done for me and after all my whining I felt so unworthy.

Thank you cleaning fairies! You restored my energy and desire to serve with your selfless act of service.