labor day 2017

Today we loaded the four kids up and took off for Ikea. Rory drove the truck and I drove the minivan so we could bring home a table for homeschooling. So far we have done our lessons on a folding table and I've had dreams of Rory building me a custom table since last spring. But it never was built so I found one at Ikea that would do the trick.

Before we left Rory informed me that the cost of gas would be $22 for this 2-vehicle, round trip excursion. He's always full of fun facts like that! 

So we drove to Ikea. Our minivan was rocking out to Days of Elijah, my kids very favorite song since family Bible camp. We listened to this version from youtube on repeat. For 45 minutes. There's no God like Jehovah!

We arrived at Ikea at 11:00 with the rest of Minnesota. But we were in this. I actually love a good crowd. My Fear Of Missing Out is completely cured in a crowd because when we're milling about "like ants on a dropped ice cream cone" as Rory put it, you are definitely not missing out. You are in it. 

So we wound our way around the top floor of the store, stopping to look at tables and chairs and Ivar cried that he felt unsafe with all the people and did I know where Hattie was? And why do you like this place? I told him it is good that he now knows he doesn't like big crowds and to be grateful we hadn't brought him to the State Fair. 

We made it to lunch and found out that as long as you spend $100 in purchases (like a table!), Ikea would cover your lunch, up to the same amount. You can only imagine the mayhem. The family in front of Rory bought a $104 lunch! Honestly, I'm impressed. The Swedish meatball meal is only $4.99. You would have to really work hard to get to $104. Rory bought $35 worth of chicken strips, meatballs, drinks, cheesecake, ginger cookies and spaghetti. I nursed Alden, everyone ate a good meal and Ivar said maybe he did like Ikea.

So we rallied. We went downstairs for Ikea Round 2 and found a whole lot of things we never knew we needed and put them in our cart. About half way through Hattie started yelling "all done! all done!" from the cart and we fed her bits of ginger cookie to keep her quiet. 

Finally we got to the area with the ginormous ceiling fans and found aisle 17, bin 25 and grabbed two cardboard boxes that held our future homeschool chairs. Then we went to aisle 24 and found bin 22. And it was empty. Our table was sold out. The one that we drove an extra vehicle to pick up. The one that was going to tip our receipt over $100 so Ikea would buy our lunch. 

So Rory left to find a worker just to be sure, Alden stretched and kicked his legs on a tall stack of big brown boxes, Hattie was strategically fed another whole ginger cookie, Elsie sang a happy song to herself while dangling her feet on flat boxes and Ivar cried that he never wanted to come here again. I think most people were thinking the same thing.

So we got in line to pay for the chairs and the impulse buys in our cart and the lines were crazy long. Alden was fussy so I brought him and Ivar and Elsie over to the exit where there were couches facing each other. We all sat on one couch and people watched. Lots of people came and went on the other couch facing us. But at the very end there were three people who took a seat. And I think they had special needs, though I'm not totally sure. But there was something a little off. Lots of snuggling and for a while napping. But then the girl got her phone out and cued up the camp classic, "Baby Shark." She put it on speaker phone as loud as it went and as the verses played she joyfully did all the hand actions like the best camp counselor I've seen. "Mama shark duh, duh. Duh, duh, duhduh." She smiled and bounced as she opened and puckered her fingers for grandpa shark. And we just stared, watching the whole, entire song. Maybe we shouldn't have. But I think she was fine with the audience. And you would have stared too. Plus, it was basically the best thing that had happened to us all day.

We loaded the minivan and there was another special request for Days of Elijah. Shocker. Again we sang the 8 minute song on repeat with Judy Jacobs all the way home, "Behold he comes! Riding on the clouds!" And then I asked God to redeem our day. The kids wanted to know what redeem meant, and I told them that God can take our wasted time and effort and restore it. To make the day count for something.

When I got out of the car Rory commented that when I first asked him to build a table I had elaborate plans. But when he saw what I was wanting at Ikea, those tables were way simpler to build and he'd be happy to build one like that. We got out a tape measure and we talked through the perfect length. Then he drove to Menards. He's been working since supper and just moments ago he finished the most perfect home school table, custom for our space. It won't be ready for our first day of school tomorrow because I want to paint it, but I love it. 

So the day was redeemed. By Jehovah. And a baby shark. And a good husband who calculates the cost of gas to Ikea and takes his wife there anyway.