not fair!!

My kids try to get me with those words, and sometimes they succeed. It is NOT fair, Mom.

Well guess what, honey, life ain't fair. Sometimes other kids get special times, sometimes you do.

I don't keep track of who went with me when or who got what or how many she got. I also reserve the right to change my mind. I have to do what seems to fit at the time, so I avoid promising things I may not be able to keep. If I DO promise, I carry it out, but sometimes it seems like I shouldn't have promised.

The kids are different from each other and have different needs. They have no idea how much I am in prayer about how to deal with each of them, and how much I really pay attention to who needs more attention and who needs more affection and who just needs a compliment.

I guess what I am trying to say is that I am raising a family of individuals.

I don't like to get so caught up in the little details that don't matter in the long run, that I forget what a blessing we have here in our home. I know I have to remind them about wearing shoes on the nice clean floor and not leaving their towels on the bathroom floor, but I don't like getting stuck in Nagging Mode. Because seriously, with this many people coming and going and relaxing and living here, there is more than enough stuff to complain about to last a lifetime. So I need to keep the big picture in mind...it IS written that "without a vision the people perish"(prov. 29 v 18) My vision for our home is peace and goodness, and for me to be a living example of what God wants to do in our lives. Come what may.

This is not always easy, but nothing that is worth anything ever is.

Patience is what I need, buckets and buckets of it. I wish it would just pour down from heaven. But no, the way to get it is through suffering.

The way to get everything good is through suffering, I suppose. I am realizing that just because I decide firmly that I want to lose X amount of pounds in a month, and by summer, this much, then by Christmas, WOW....doesn't mean it is going to happen without suffering and working at it.

I am not just going to give up though.

So it is the same with being a good parent. People tell me all the time that they don't have enough patience to have lots of kids. Well, WHO DOES? I do not magically posess an angelic smile that shines on my dear children when they are pulling each other's hair or when they decide to find out if their Mermaid doll's outfit is really waterproof and SOMEHOW use up ALL of the new purple hand soap.

Today is library day. If Camille's stuffy nose is any better, that is. She is nicely still sleeping. Not that I mind her getting up and cuddling with me....Ahh, speak of the devil...here she is! All sleepy-eyed and cuddly in her warm fleecy jammies....what the heck am I going to do when she gets too big for this? Doesn't ANYONE have an extra baby I can have?