It has not been working for her.  It has been troubling me but I just couldn’t put my finger on it.  I had a Woman’s Retreat this weekend where I was spiritually fed, hence the break through… I am sure!

I do also have to give Kudos to my husband who mentioned before I left for the retreat that our daughter needed some special responsibility of her own.  He was so right!

She is a little Mama all the way.  She wants to be in charge, the one who is right…  I find her using a ‘not so nice’ parent tone often.  So after my husband planting the seed, and me being filled with spiritual food and rest, it became clear.

I told her yesterday that I would like her to help me micro-manage the household.  Now usually I am trying to do this task, which I don’t do very well… thanks to my busy, busy toddler.

I usually expect my oldest boy to do his chores properly.The other 2 I know it won’t be good and it just spirals into a frustrated Mom and half done kid chores.  Which also means the house never gets to a tidy place, hence me more frustrated then before.

Moving on to my point… she is very forgetful and distracted when doing her chores… like her mother.  So I am giving her 2-4 weeks depending on her progress to get better at her chores so she can take the responsibility of micro-managing them.

She can’t be in charge of this task if she can’t do her own chores properly, right?  She was ecstatic!  She had no problem with the grace period and can’t wait for the responsibility that she is long over due for.

In my defense I have 3 boys.  I have a 6 year old very passionate boy, who gets misunderstood with his humor, is a bit forgetful… and only likes to sit still, never.  He has the biggest heart and just wants to please people he loves.  Now the toddler, a boy, is very smart, bull headed, and cute… a very frustrating combination in my opinion.

My oldest is awesome, he is God sent.  He does what he is told, he tries to please his mom and dad the best he can.  He has read through his bible at least 2 times, maybe 3.  He has knowledge of the word that only comes from reading it so much.

He has been through so much junk with my husband and I, and yet the Lord has made him so good.  In saying that my poor girl feels like she has to live up to that.  The funny thing is, is that when they were much younger she was little miss princess and her older brother had to make sure he treated her just like one.  I guess she doesn’t remember, or maybe that is why she feels lost now.

Anyway, because of the retreat this weekend I have had a hunger to be in the word (yeah!) which I believe gave me this epiphany.  I need to start letting her help me with things that she should be learning as a girl.  A girl who will one day be a young woman, and some day a wife, a mother and a  keeper of the home.

So today instead of using my oldest son, who is just like a robot and does what ever it is I ask of him (plus he is strong enough to move furniture and stuff), I asked her to help me.  I am reorganizing our homeschool/my office area.  It was much needed, and I have not had use of my desk for a while.

She was delighted.  I used the time to teach her how to move furniture around, and how helpful the tape measure is, for less work.  We talked, laughed, and dusted.  I could see the gleam in her eye, she had a purpose like her Mom has a purpose.

I also had to go to church to practice some songs for worship today.  I decided to bring the little one so hubby could continue to work.  I usually bring my oldest to watch him because it works well.  Today I thought she needed the responsibility.

Usually with the baby she just makes things worse, because she so loves being in charge that she drives the smart toddler crazy.  So this time I gave her the task and gently told her to let him know you are there… but not to make him play, or make him sit, or make him eat.  Let him feel like he has some freedom and you are there to help him, and play with him.

She did a fantastic job.  It was about 2 hours all together, and it went very well.  I was able to get details on worship songs worked out, and that was my purpose for going.  So she succeeded!  She also got thanked and praised by the worship leader as well.

I am both happy and sad.  I am so happy for her to finally feel like she is needed and appreciated.  I am sad because it took a long time for me to see it, and apply what I realized the right way.

So here is just another awesome reason why God’s Word, the Bible helps so much in our lives, personally!  Praise Him for all He does for us, and all He wants for us… and our children!

HE IS WORTHY TO BE PRAISED!

Post from: Jenna Storms

The Only Girl

It seems like my children hit this stage about 6 months before the time is suppose to come.  I think it is because my first agenda with them, is to teach them to communicate with us.  My youngest little guy wasn’t a fan of saying words, unless he thought of them all by himself.  So I taught him some signing to help his communication skills continue to blossom, which they have.

Only problem is he has turned into the cutest little ‘Alpha Male’  tyrant I have ever seen.  At times it is so stinkin’ cute, and at other times it is such an exhausting challenge.   His little personality shines through in his constant state of I have my own agenda and stop interfering with it.  He puts his eye brows down, and stomps his foot at me in protest, when I tell him “NO”, or when I want him to do some thing that he is not interested in doing.

This happens… oh I don’t know like 40 times a day.  If he is not protesting then he is just down right disobeying.  He really does have his own agenda most of the day.  He likes to wear every one shoes… I don’t allow shoes all over the house for clean carpet purposes, but he wears the dirty things and then leaves them randomly placed all over our house.

That is just a couple of frustrations.  It is so hard to deal with, how do you discipline that?  He also tries to bite his older brothers and sisters if they try to enforce the rules.  No one has shown him how to bite in anger, nope..he has figured that out all by himself.

Right now he is feeding our dog those expensive “Graduate” Cheese Puffs.  My house is in a constant state of messiness.  So maybe I am writing just to help the reader understand the expression, Terrible Two’s…  Or how about to just laugh and cry with me while I rant about all the truth I am getting out.

It is so hard to keep a straight face, and be stern when he just is a miniature vision of my husband.  Eye brows down, grunting with authority, and standing solid as a rock, smart and confident.  It is just about the cutest thing in the world.  Such a little man, it is absolutely priceless.

Only at the end of a long day of struggle do I want to be done with this age.  It is a bittersweet emotional roller coaster ride.  He is more challenging than the others because he has learned from his siblings.  I am not talking about bad habits either, just day to day kid stuff.  He just wants to be like them.   Unknowingly my older children have helped him become the monster he is today… who knew???

Babies are such a blessing from the Lord.  I also think he makes them extremely challenging for a reason.  So much time and energy invested… it would seem that only love can be grown from that.  When that love is realized, it helps you to get a glimpse of the love God has for us.  I don’t think we can actually totally understand it, but that’s okay… when we get to heaven.

Every time I have had a new baby, I am so excited to meet them.   I feel so much love and kindness towards them.  I just want to be with them constantly, and nurture their every need and want.  But as they grow, your love grows… which does not at all seem possible when you meet the new little beings, but it happens.

As they become little people with their own personalities and they express them selves it is even more endearing.  God is so awesome.  It is a perfect harmonious way to learn and love your children.  Not only does it teach you about them but it teaches you about yourself.

So whether your love comes  immediate, or takes a time… our children when released into this world, by the grace of God will find their way as God fearing adults to glorify Him, hopefully with peace and joy even in hard times.

I have only been able to become who I am so far, because of these children.  So for this last child, I know that as tired and frustrated as I am at times… I AM GOING TO MISS THIS

I am not doing all of this work in vain.  I am doing this for my children, so they will become who God wants them to become… not what the world thinks they need to be!

That is reason enough for me. 

Post from: Jenna Storms

The Totally Terrible Two’s

Today I was able visit with my friend.  We use to meet every week to play worship music together.  Lately we haven’t been so consistent.  She plays violin while I sing and play my guitar.  It has been such a blessing, our kids play and we hang out.  We talk, play, and laugh a lot!  The laughter is my favorite part!

Any way we visited during the middle of the day and then all of a sudden I had ran out of time… I had pictures to be printed before it was too late in the day… because of my  procrastinatiom.  I also had an 11 year old son to take to martial arts and then a Keepers and Contenders meeting (which is like boy/girl scouts except our Lord is incorporated into everything) with all of them that lasts 2 hours.

On Keepers and Contenders night we end up getting home way past their bedtime which means my night ends up being much later.  So I got the pictures to the store and did not watch my son for the first time at his martial arts class, because I had to pick up the pictures before I went to their meeting because my daughter was doing scrapbooking.

So my little one was a champ just napping along the way, my 6 year old was a champ as well, just keeping up with the madness.  My daughter so excited to do something with the pictures…scrapbooking.

The boys were excited because they built a small book shelf where they sawed, nailed, and painted it themselves.  They also love their teacher…who is a man and not a women.  The whole idea of this group is women teaching the girls, and men teaching the boys.  It is really a great thing.

Anyway being so tired, and then pushing through was just so worth it.  My daughter had a wonderful time with her pictures.  I had a realization about her while we were scrapbooking together…  she loves pictures, and memories, as much as I do.  She is already a better photographer than I am.

She really gets tired of her brothers and loves to spend time away from… but that ended up being the first page she chose to do.  She had ideas the minute she picked the photos out from home.  It was totally therapeutic for her.  It made her so happy.  Then the fact that I got to sit with her and just be there to help her make decisions… she actually wanted my opinion.

She kept asking me what I thought about where to put details on the page, and I was trying not to influence her art work.  She finally laughed and said, “Mom, I want you to tell me what you think and you keep saying what ever you think,  will you please help me.”  So I caught on and started just telling her my opinion when she asked.

Next she just let me choose some pictures and do a page myself.  Which was totally fun.  I love art projects myself.  I would totally get into scrapbooking if I had the time and the money.  I don’t have very much of either at this point in my life.

So I realized how thankful I was to stick it out and take my kids to their ‘thing’.  They were so happy, and especially my daughter who gets thrown in with our 3 boys all day long.  My daughter and I are so much the same and it really starts being more obvious as she gets older.

If you ever feel just too tired, and your day is not over… give it a go anyway.  I think blessings some times come when you push through the toughness and let the Lord show you things you wouldn’t even notice if it came too easy!

Post from: Jenna Storms

So Tired