Hysterics and Revelations

        Today I had a small revelation. It was a really rough day with Allen and Olivia. They are very clingy children. I accomplish close to nothing on my to-do list these days. They fight over who gets to sit on my lap, who gets to sit next to me on the couch or at the dinner table. I can't even go to the bathroom without one of them barging in. This particular evening, my patience was about gone. Olivia was hysterical because she wanted to go to Pizza Pie Cafe for her birthday. Her birthday wasn't until the next day but since I hadn't made dinner yet, Brent and I were considering it. Every time we would try to talk to Olivia (about anything), she became hysterical. I honesty think she was having an anxiety attack. She kept screaming that we didn't love her and kept telling us to throw her out in the snow. She'd yell, "DO IT! JUST DO IT!" I really didn't know how to handle her hysterics. 
      At one point, she was so hysterical, she gave herself a bloody nose. After that, I told her that we couldn't leave the house. She clearly needed to calm down and just go to sleep. Again, she became outraged at that idea. Finally, Brent suggested going for a drive to calm Olivia down. We piled in the van, still feeling very agitated and just started driving. Thankfully, Olivia began to calm down. Brent said he's just going to drive and see where the Holy Ghost takes us.
          We ended up in Layton at Applebee's. It didn't sound good to any of us but by this point, it was 7 PM and I just wanted to feed my children and get them home to sleep. We quickly ordered, ate, paid and left. On our way home, we came across a huge car accident. At least 4 or 5 cars were involved. There were 2 ambulance trucks, 2 fire trucks and about 4 cop cars. It looked really bad. My heart sank as we drove by. Those poor people. What a horrible day for them. How was this one moment going to affect their lives? This accident looked like it would take a long time for those involved to recover from financially, physically, mentally and emotionally............Then the revelation came!
          My children are very difficult at times, but at least they are alive, healthy and not in an ambulance on their way to the hospital with life threatening injuries. In that moment, I was so grateful that our trial for the day was a hysterical 5 year old with a bloody nose. Some days, all I can focus on is how bad things seem because my children were hard to handle that day, but at least I have them here. 
          Often, I overlook the amazing blessing it is just to have children. They teach me so much. Being taught by children is one of the hardest ways to learn but that doesn't mean the lessons learned aren't valuable.