15 Minutes, 2 Toddlers, & A Bag of Flour...

Have you ever had one of those days when everything is going so smooth and perfect? I had one of them 2 days ago. The kids had been wonderful all day, sharing, saying "okay mommy" whenever I told them to do or not do something, and I was getting things done around the house that needed to be done...it was great! I even had supper baking in the oven to be done around 5, which rarely happens and all the toys were already picked up!

Camden, Braeden, and Kyler had been playing outside in the water so I brought them in for a bath; Carsten was still taking a nap...he loves his sleep! After I finished up with Kyler, he and I went and got Carsten up while the boys played in the tub. I brought the babies (yes I still call them babies) downstairs to play. Then I went in the bathroom to finish up the boys' bath so we could eat supper. I shut the door so the babies wouldn't come in and get into stuff. We finished up bath time and I went to open the door and that is where the "perfect day" ended.

I had forgotten that the bathroom doorknob was broken and could only be opened from the outside!!! Camden, Braeden, and I were locked in the bathroom and the babies were roaming the house! I immediately panicked thinking of the fact that the oven was on and the babies could easily open the door and get hurt. My stomach was churning and it was all I could do to not start crying. I had left my phone out in the kitchen so I couldn't even call anyone for help. Right away I started yanking on the knob trying to break it off. The boys were so sweet and made comments to me from the bathtub while I frantically tried to free us like "mommy you shouldn't have shut the door!" and "now we will be locked in here for a ever long time!". Of course I, in return, sweetly told them to be quiet and that they were not helping me!! :)

While working on the knob, I kept looking out under the door and yelling for the babies to come to the door and praying to God to keep them away from the oven. For some reason I decided to look in the cupboards and medicine cabinet in case, by some crazy miracle, a screwdriver or some sort of tool may have magically appeared there to help me out. No such luck! I did however find the handle to the sink stopper and was able to use that to help pry the doorknob away from the door. After a lot of yanking, pulling, pushing, and using all of my weight, I was able to break the doorknob off. I still couldn't get the door to open though so I pulled out all the stops! :) There were 2 little screws that were keeping us from our freedom! When you have no screwdriver to unscrew them, what's a girl to do? Well use her fingernails of course!! So I used my nails (which took several minutes) to unscrew the screws and I was then able to work the latch to open the door. Hallelujah we were free!

I have to say there were thoughts going through my head the whole time of "What am I going to do if I can't get the door open? I have no phone and nobody is going to hear me if I yell. How long would it take before a neighbor realized they hadn't seen me for awhile and checked to see if we were okay?" I know it may seem dramatic, but I was in panic mode here people! Need I remind you of the 2 toddlers that had free rein of the house and the oven that was on?! :)

I had to keep reminding myself that I needed to stay calm and that God was in control. I even told myself a few times "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me".....now please God give me some super duper strength so I can break down this door!!! :)

Okay back on track here, so we came out of the bathroom and what you will see in the pictures below is what welcomed us.

First, here is a picture of the aftermath of the door and the "tool" that helped save our lives :) Never underestimate the power of the handle of a sink stopper!

And here is the door sans the doorknob :)

And HERE is the mess!! Kyler & Carsten emptied the entire freezer...

which just happened to include an entire bag of flour!

And of course, they had to carry it to the carpet to dump it out!!

What fun would the clean up process be if it was on the vinyl kitchen floor?!

This is where the 2 culprits were sent for booking while I cleaned up the mess! :)

I have to say, the whole ordeal, while in the moment was very scary and of course frustrating, reminded me that God uses every moment of our lives to teach us and grow us in our faith. This was definitely a moment where I grew in patience with my kids and myself and in trust and faith in God to see me through, knowing that He was in control the entire time. And as it always goes, these are the times we will look back on and laugh at....as soon as I put a new doorknob on the door! :)

And these are the (crazy) days of my life!!