Fighting to Love

I never realized it would be so hard to teach a five year old to love. In our house we never use the words, "I hate you." They are so powerful and permanent. Once spoken they can never be taken back. In our house we love each other. At times we may not like what the other is or does, but we always love one another. For a child that has had people in and out of her life and never knowing who they were to her, she loved and was hurt. It is much easier to hate and be safe, then to love and be hurt. I have to change that, and she fights. She fights so hard. It's wearying. But I endure, I have to because I do love her and her siblings, as I love my own.

Happiness is. . . teaching others it's okay to love.

Doing what’s right. . .

One of the hardest parts of doing what's right is sometimes hurting those you love. Another is cleaning up the mess and then being told by those you are cleaning up for you are not doing it correctly. You are trying so hard to follow the Lord's wishes and in your heart you know what you are doing is true, but knowing your going to have to hurt someone because you are doing what's right. Lastly, just when the exhaustion from doing what is right is not enough, the stress from the lectures on how to do it just knock you flat and you wonder - WHY?!?

But watching the changes, however small, as the Spirit slowly changes the lives of those you are helping makes the stress, strain, and exhaustion of it all well worth it.

Divide & Conquer

When dealing with large numbers of children, the best solution is to divide and conquer. There are six home today with rain coming down for the second day in a row. Lunch wrapped up and they quickly got rowdy. I put the youngest two down for their naps (division 1). I left the two boys in the playroom with their trucks and such (division 2). I brought the girls downstairs with their play-do (division 3). And I am now writing this during a much needed sane moment.

Happiness is . . . those few precious sane moments that make it all worth it.