Preparing for the Unexpected

As a parent, you always try to be prepared for anything and everything that could go wrong at any time.  However, I think every parent will agree that there are often unexpected events that occur that you could never possibly prepare for.  Parents have to be quick-thinking and try to handle the situation with as much grace and poise as possible, even if we are truly freaking out inside.  For example, the daily dealings of a two year-old can quickly go from sweet to sour without an ounce of notice.

As many of you have already heard, we had such a situation this past weekend, when Rose and Ava posed as flower girls for their Uncle Ben's wedding.  Knowing how tempermental Ava can be, we tried to be prepared for the worst, with my Dad waiting in the back of the church, pacifier in hand, in case she freaked out and wouldn't walk down the aisle.  We had Rose and the other 7 year-old flower girl hold her hand and we tried to plan for them to sit down immediately after the reached the front to avoid distracting the guests.  Well, all this planning proved to be of no help with what actually went down that day.  After successfully walking down the aisle, Paul and I watched helplessly from the sidelines (because we both had a part in the ceremony) as Ava begins to fuss and decides to throw her flower girl basket in the middle of the aisle.  As her wailing gets increasing louder, I worry that the guests can not hear the preacher so I motion her to join me on the altar where I was waiting to read.  As she walks loudly up the steps to me, she steps on the bottom of her dress and falls flat on the floor.  Quickly I try to scoop her up and carry her out the side entrance of the church.  Luckily my Dad was quick on his feet and met me at the door so I could be back in time to do my reading. 

...Things went pretty much went as bad as they could go.  After the wedding, Paul and I replayed the events over and over in our heads coming up with multiple things we could have done to make things go smoother.  But the truth is, you can not always prepare for the worst.  We just have to try to do the best we can with what we know at that time.

Luckily God knew what he was doing when he made 2 year-olds so stinking cute...it is hard to be upset for very long!

Hugs!