Magnolia and Meltdowns

Today was a day we were all looking forward to. Yesterday was a long afternoon of driving. We finally settled in at a Walmart late last night after a stressful drive through Houston. Where is everyone going at 10pm on a Sunday night in Houston? Anyhow, when we arrived at a nice, safe Walmart(the nicest Walmart I've ever been in) Joe hopped out to fill the gas tank while I helped the girls get ready for bed. We quickly realized that the water was not running. I checked the water pump switch and it was on, but no water. Pretty sure I was chanting to myself, "I will remain calm, I will remain calm." We went into diagnosis mode and tried several different things. Meanwhile while Joe and I were outside the RV working on the water issue, Anna opens to door and says Megan is throwing up. Sure enough, Megan threw up, but she's a pro and caught it in the trashcan. So, now I'm standing in a Walmart parking  lot close to midnight cleaning up throw-up, wow, this is a great Summer vacation:) Again, those inner voice chants of remaining calm came in handy. We finally decided we would just worry about the water in the morning.

After a good 5.5 hour night sleep, I headed into Walmart at 6:00. I quickly assessed that no water meant no coffee, so I was headed into McDs inside Walmart to get coffee and a few other items we needed. When I got back, Joe had a plan for the water and it worked....we have running water now!  We hit the road headed for WACO...Magnolia Table.

We arrived at Magnolia Table in a rainstorm, but that didn't matter, we were excited to be there. After only a 50 minute wait, we were seated and ordering. The food was delicious and the atmosphere perfect. I was so excited for Anna to get to experience Magnolia. After breakfast we headed over to the Silos and Magnolia Market. It did not disappoint. Of course it was crowded, but it was very cool and we loved looking around.

We did have some meltdowns today. The younger girls woke up at odds with each other today. They've had their moments, but today it all culminated. They were at each other all morning. I tried really hard not to let it get to me. I have to find a way to not let their bad moods ruin my mood. I wanted to enjoy this morning, the wait, the breakfast, the shopping. I had to choose joy over the turmoil that was brewing. When we were back in the RV, they tried to play a video game together. I'm not sure what happened, but when I returned from the restroom, there were tears and daddy had taken away the electronics. Megan officially declared she was having alone time and she didn't want to be bothered. Anna was in tears and finally admitted she didn't know what was wrong with her today, she was just in a bad mood. So we chatted because she was aware that she had an issue. Megan took a little longer to come around. However, after the meltdowns and the conflict and the resolution, everyone has gotten along much better.

I'm empathetic to their feelings. It's the 5th day of our trip and it's a lot of togetherness. There are going to be days like this, moments we all need a break from each other. What I hope we can learn is that on those days when we wake up feeling like this, that we can ask the Lord to help us think of others before ourselves. It's not a concept that comes easy to any of us. We want comfort, we want it our way and we want to wallow in self-pity when it doesn't go that way. One of my biggest hopes is that we will all grow in this area on this trip and learn to love each other sacrificially. That would be the best sight to see of all. Onward to the Four Corners we go....