"I'm giving this to you with hope!" she stated with her eyes scrunched tight.

After I graded her pre-test for spelling, we chatted.  "Dear, if you aren't going to do your work neatly and carefully all week as you practice your spelling words...hope is not going to do you much good!"

We have found ourselves stuck in the muck of parenting and schooling this week.  It has not been fun.  It has been hard.  It has been uncomfortable.  AND it isn't over.

I am recording these two pictures for my benefit.  "I am giving this to you with hope...with consistency and love and much discipline...that all of these moments will be worth it all!"  Children are immature and will not always make wise choices.  Parents are supposed to be mature and deal with their unwise choices in a wise manner.  Thankfully, our wise principal/father was around because the teacher was falling apart.

We are finding out that sometimes...with no line between school and home...it makes for a very long day...and this teacher/mother can't handle it.

Phil. 4:13 comes to mind.

Psalm 43:5 brings the word for today...hope!

A cure for whatever ails you

At least...for me...today...it was hot and sour soup!  It burned my mouth but tasted soooo good.  With crab rangoon on the side, lunch was such a treat and most delightful!

My word for the day...

was irksome...causing annoyance, wearisome, vexation, tedious.  Not very positive, I know.  I was working on my Bible study and was looking up a word in the dictionary.  As I scanned the pages, my eye caught the word irksome.  It described exactly what I was feeling inside...many different situations were rolling around and instead of being thankful...I was irked.
 
Is it lunchtime yet? 
When can I go to bed? 
How many days left of school for the year? 
Why does everything have to be such a big deal?
Is it wrong to want to run away?
Should we re-evaluate this spring break thing?
What will we have for lunch?

I checked the mailbox at lunchtime.  I caught a glimpse of what was in the box and got a little excited.  "Thank you, Lord, for that little bright spot in today."  I received encouragement in the form of a Christian magazine.  I always sit and read the articles from cover to cover.  The material is always Biblically strong and often convicting to my mothering heart. The one article that jumped out at me was one about sighing in frustration..."when I sigh in frustration, it leaves no opportunity to express thankfulness." 
OUCH! 
And now...I need to find a new word for the day.
And the very next thought...the verse that we have been working on all week...I John 1:9...
followed by James 4:17.

"A spoonful of sugar...to help the medicine go down!"

We had some tears this afternoon as we addressed a problem with messy work.  In order to get outside faster...we had a Miss Messy-worker...who had to be called in to re-do her work.   That is tough...you feel like the meanest parent on the block!  It is a hard lesson to learn...and even harder to have enforce on such a beautiful-play-outside-kind-of-afternoon.  This "spoonful" let her know that her parents love her and will do what is necessary for her to obey and focus on her work...and do it neatly and sweetly the first time.  The work we received the second time around was beautiful.  I know there will be more do-overs and more tears...because it is a learning process.   One of these days...it will sink in...right?!?

I wonder if a spoonful will help remind me to be sweet and patient when we visit this issue again?!?

"Ted,  I think I am going to need the BIG bag of M and Ms when we get groceries next!"

There are some places, circumstances, and people...

who treat being on time as irrelevant. 

It's too bad...because it sure shows a lack of respect for people and the time we each are given.  Once those minutes are gone...we never get them back!  Makes me wonder how many minutes of people's lives I have stolen from them...making them wait...for me!  "Whatever!" people say.   I need to stop treating others as if "the whole world revolves around me and what is important to me only"!

And by the way...

it is a big deal...and it does matter!

IT'S SELFISH!  Whether you are old or young!

Philippians 2:3

"Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves."

It just hit me...I tend to be the worst offender in our house.  I can rationalize it away as "being the mother and having to make sure all is in order" but it isn't right!  And what am I teaching my girls...who are by their very nature...fiddlers!?  I have taught them to be that way...not by my words...but by my actions...and yet...I get aggravated with it! 

Case and point...yesterday morning...

I was the last one in the van...again...after loading our potluck dish and then going back in to grab my purse and coffee cup and locking the door and making sure Chevy's cage was locked and the door locked...yesterday was the normal stuff...we all worked as a team.  Good Sunday morning feelings. 

Other days...not always...there are times

when everyone else is in the van...waiting...for me...to do stupid stuff that isn't necessary to do at that time...

I am being selfish.

A simple observation about an event today...was just used by the Holy Spirit to trample all over my good Monday feelings...and my toes!

Just in passing...

"Mom is just like a queen, but she is too nice," said Alisa.

"I better get ready to put my hopes down," said Teddy.

While talking with our cheery friend, Ashlynn lamented that we weren't exactly having a spring break, "Ashlynn, that which doesn't hurt you you will make you stronger.  You will be a better person...and it's spring!"  Ashlynn rolled her eyes.

"Well, that's just nice...we're going to start our day with a cafuffle?" I asked.

"Why would you make something like that?  It looks liked you dumped out the aquarium and then you call it a jello salad?  That is not right...course, I am not a jello man," said Ted.  (Dad, I guess you and Ted wouldn't want to go to a jello buffet any time soon!  Vegetables...or fruit cocktail...hmmm!?)

"Must you flap your yap about such personal things?  It's a fair question!" and no, he wasn't referring to me!

Sunday thoughts...

When I think of Heaven, and all the sights I'll see:
The walls of jasper, gates of pearl, the clear and golden street.
Why should I be present? Why should I enter in?
After all the sinful living, and the wicked one I've been.

In the presence of Jehovah, as I stand before the throne,
The accuser of the brethren starts to read the things I've done
As I hear the awful charges, the question fills my mind:
Why should I not be put in Hell to suffer for all time?

It's through the blood, that's all I have to cling;
It's through the blood that Jesus shed for me.
Not by works of my own righteousness,
For filthy rags are they.
But because of that old rugged tree,
Hanging on dark Calvary,
That is my only plea;
It's through the blood!


When I'm walking through a valley, and I feel there's no way out.
When the winds of sorrow threaten me, and they turn my world around.
That's when I look to Jesus and the price He paid for me;
I can lift my hands in praise to Him and shout the victory!

It's through the blood, that's all I have to cling;
It's through the blood that Jesus shed for me.
Not by works of my own righteousness,
For filthy rags are they.
But because of that old rugged tree,
Hanging on dark Calvary,
That is my only plea;
It's through the blood!

Oh precious is the flow that makes me white as snow!
No other fount I know! It's through the blood.
It's through the blood.

Saturday thoughts...

"If you do what you've always done, then you will remain what you have always been."--Steve Curington

Just in case you were wondering...

Alisa's next scan and check-up is April 7, 2011 in Chicago...
and...
I still tear up when I hear this poem...and Teddy is the one saying it over and over now!  In those quiet moments, I keep going back to where we were last year...at this time...this day...

The Lamb

William Blake

Little lamb, who made thee?

Dost thou know who made thee?

Gave thee life, and bade thee feed

By the stream and o'er the mead?

Gave thee clothing of delight--

Softest clothing, woolly bright?

Gave thee such a piping voice,

Making all the fields rejoice?

Little lamb, who made thee?

Dost thou know who made thee?

Little lamb, I'll tell thee--

Little lamb, I'll tell thee,

He is called by thy name,

For He calls Himself a Lamb;

He is meek, and He is mild.

He became a little child.

I a child, and thou a lamb,

We are called by His name.

Little lamb, God bless thee!

Little lamb, God bless thee!

God used last year's event to bring us to Himself.  He wrapped His arms around us and led us gently.  He worked in our hearts.  He now knows each of us specifically by name!    What amazing grace!  I am thankful for His purposes in each situation of life!  We are all called by His name!

 

I'm one of THOSE moms.

Who doesn't mind waiting in the car...all by herself!  I learned my lesson last week...and brought a coffee with me.  It was very quiet...except for the Herbster Trio singing in the background.  It was very sunny and warm.  It was a perfect time to "Be still and know"!  An hour can be very long or very short...depending on what you are doing!  Today...it was just right!

We are beginning to wonder...

would a dishwasher cut down on the fiddling?  Would it keep the fussing at each other down?  It's a good thing I used only one pot to cook in tonight...and we used paper plates!  Almost 45 minutes of dish time...including restroom break for the washer girl...which holds everything else up. 
I don't know...it may be worth a thought or two.

It's Thursday...

that means it is my day to get all sorts of things done!  I always seem to have a spurt of energy on Thursday.  I must explain that this "spurt of energy" doesn't begin until after the second cup of coffee and morning break!  Ask Ted...he was here for the start of the day...and he laughed at me (and the girls)!  We were up...but not happy about it.  Wednesday nights take a toll on Thursday mornings!  After working through the start, we have a good day going.  Thursdays are far enough away from Monday (recuping from the weekend), they are after Wednesday (getting over the hump of the week), and they are close to Friday (planning for all the weekend fun). 
Does anyone else see this pattern as wife and mother in your house?  Or is it just me?