To potty in peace - it's not gonna happen!

Last week I saw a link that kept popping up on facebook with a picture attached to it.  It was called "the teacher's bathroom"  and for a split second I almost clicked on it before I realized it was a hack.  The teacher's bathroom is the one place in the school where you can lock yourself in a tiny room, and have a few blissful moments of peace and quiet while your kids are literally climbing the walls and toilets and sinks in their bathroom. And the newest one today is someone tried to see how far their hand could go down the toilet. (Yes, I promise you the kids LITERALLY do that, and parents - some things are just best if you just don't know...) 

My days of peace and quiet in the bathroom are over. done. finished.  And not just at home - but AT SCHOOL!!!  Last week I went to the private, teacher's bathroom.  The one that you need a key to get in.  I walk there, put my key in the door, open it, and turn around and all 23 of my students followed me there!!! They were practically stepping on my heels! "GO AWAY! GO CLIMB WALLS AND TOILETS! THIS IS MY TIME!"   A few days ago we were all taking a bathroom break and I told them, You go do your thing, and I'm going to the restroom and I'll be right back.  One of my little girls grabs my hand and said, "can I go in with you?!?  ME: "no"  Her: "But your the best teacher ever!!!"  ME: "I don't care if I just won a trip to the moon for being the best teacher (Geez, I probably couldn't even win a trip to sonic) there is no way on this planet you are going into that bathroom with me!"

Maybe its because my peaceful bathroom days at home are now over that I long for those few stolen moments of peace and quiet in the teacher's bathroom.  Elisabeth and bathrooms lead to nothing but trouble.  First, we tried to keep all the bathroom doors shut at all times.  Because if we didn't, this would happen.

                                                                            

Then she moved on to discovering drawers and cabinets and toilet water that is oh so much fun to splash around in.  And throw things in - like her waffle, or her bottle, or brand new rolls of toilet paper.  The other day I thought Chris was in the bathroom.  The door was shut, and I heard stuff going on so I was talking away at him.  No answer.  I kept talking and since I wasn't getting a response I told him to quit ignoring me and I opened the door and there was little miss, both hands in the toilet while she just gives me that smile with her scrunched up nose that pretty much gets her out of everything.  If we keep her in the bathroom with us while we are in there she tries to push us off the toilet or climbs in the cabinet and starts tossing everything out, she rips all the towels off, and takes off with the toilet paper and leaves us stranded.  If we leave her out of the bathroom while we are in there we even have a bigger mess to contend with.  Like this past Thursday, Chris was at home with her. He is in the bathroom and while he is doing his thing-  she finds an accidental doggie doo-doo mess that Matty left behind in one of the bedrooms and well, you can pretty much guess the rest of the story. So see, we are in a no-win situation when it comes to privacy in bathroom.

No matter how much lack of privacy we have now concerning the restroom, at least we can do our business in comfort.  Unlike my experience in Thailand with the "squatty potty."  Their bathroom consisted of a hole in the ground that you squatted when you went, then rinsed yourself off with a hose like thing instead of using toilet paper.

                                                                                     
One day when we were working at one of the Thai schools, I had to go! I usually tried to wait till I got back to the hotel because  there was no way I would be able to squat and hose myself off without my clothes getting soaked. There was a line of Thai kids waiting for the bathroom and I just stood in line with them. It was my turn.  I walked into the ONE bathroom of the entire school and figured the easiest way to get this done was just to take all my clothes off and proceed from there.  Well, the whole thing took forever, and by the time I got done there were probably a hundred Thai kids lined up at the door an I'm sure making fun of me in a language I couldn't understand and  wondering if the "American lady" fell down the toilet hole or what. (Ahhh...mission  trip memories...)

I really do long for some peace, quiet, rest, alone moments.  All moms do.  Some days I feel like its not gonna happen this side of Heaven.  And then I think of Heaven.  Ahhhhh....just saying that word lets me breathe a sigh of relief. Because I know that all the hard stuff in life will someday soon end. I love that verse "Better is one day in your courts, better is one day in your house, than a thousand elsewhere." (Psalm 84:10)  Oh to truly rest in the presence of Jesus.  It is sweet refreshment for my soul when I find those quiet moments to read  my Bible, or in the pew when I can picture my Savior as I sing a worship song.  That will carry me through until I can truly rest at the feet of Jesus. "Find rest, O my soul in God alone; my hope comes from him." (Psalm 62:5)  Until then...I am just resigned to the fact that I will probably never potty in peace again.