I'll Do Better Tomorrow, I Promise

Has anyone heard of this book? I picked it up a few years ago, and it's just so great. Kind of a children's book, but really a "make mommy appreciate her bad kids" book.

The story is about a little boy who is in the bed saying his prayers for the evening, alone. He talks to God about how he was awake when his mommy came in to tell him goodnight, even though he pretended to be asleep. The mommy started to pray herself, and recounted all the things she dealt with that day, from the little boy pulling all the vegetables from the garden, he cuts his sisters hair, and he overflows the bathtub after making a tremendous mess in the bathroom, among other things.

My perfect mom day turned into a perfect disaster.

Remember my adhd child who was having such a bad day at school? Yeah, he finally confessed to his teacher that he spit his medicine out in the toilet. She got it out of him when she had to take his crayons away b/c he was eating them. Yeah.

So can you image what my afternoon was like? For the first time in my life I have considered sedation. And he's in bed early.

And I have been left with nerves that are shattered. And then Christopher asked me to read him a book. And he brought me this one. "I'll Do Better tomorrow, I promise."

I'm going to give you a little excerpt from it:

I lay there listening to Mommy
As she told You about our day
I thought about all the things I had done
And I wondered what I should say.

I was just about to tell her
That I'd been awake all along
And ask her to please forgive me
For all of those things that I'd done wrong.

When suddenly I heard her whisper,
"God, forgive me for today...
For not being more understanding
When those problems came my way...

For not handling situations
In the way you wanted me too...
For getting angry and losing my temper,
Things I know you don't want me to do.

And God, please give me more patience,
Help me make it through another day,
I'll do better tomorrow, I promise...
In Jesus' name I pray."

Wiping her eyes, she kissed me
And knelt here beside my bed.
She stroked my hair for a little while...
"I love you, precious," Mommy said.

She left the room without ever knowing
That'd I'd been awake all the time.
And God, could we make it our little secret?
You know, just yours and mine?

I'm sorry I was so much trouble today,
I really didn't mean to be...
Daddy says it's tough being a kid sometimes,
But I think it's harder on Mommy than me.

Well, Goodnight, God. Thanks for listening.
It's sure nice to know you're there.
I feel so much better when I talk to You
Cause you always hear my prayer.

And I'll do better tomorrow, I promise...
Just You wait and see!
I'll try not to be so much trouble again,
But, God, please give more patience to Mommy...

Just in case!
Amen.

So now I'm going to tuck in my "Angel." The one who put me through the ringer, and give him a kiss and a hug and tell him I love him, and tomorrow will be a better day. God will give me more patience, for sure, that's why he gave me Concerta!

Oh, and here's a little gold mine in this book, in more ways than one: I searched for a pic to put on here, and according to Amazon, this book sells for between $50 and $175! But I think I'll keep it for moments like these.