Sweeties

 So, to just be painfully honest here, my toughest times during the summertime at home with the kids is cleanup.  Ugh.  I have a really, really, hard time handling messes gracefully.  I don't like it one bit.  Not so much the messes, but the attitude of not needing to clean it up. And my poor kids listen to me vent too much about the lack of cleanliness.  I'm working on that......

But there was a day in the summer when the morning got going, and I felt like I was the ONLY one cleaning.  Not only were there children not cleaning and getting to their chores, but holy smokes, are they able to make a mess in NO time. 

So it was one of those mornings...

And I was letting my kids know I wasn't happy about it...

We have been helping a neighbor down the road with her garden and I told the kids I was going to go help her alone, and I would be back and the house better be clean!

Well, they did it. 

But not only that, I think they felt bad that I was so mad.  So did I.  But, to make things better in their minds, they made me lunch.  And it was about the cutest thing ever. 

I walked in and things were picked up.  The table was set complete with a salt and pepper shakers, hot sauce, and napkins.  There was a menu sitting on the table with this written on it:

Ummmm....that is pretty much the cutest thing ever.  Those little sweeties!  It was good for me to get fresh air out in the garden, then to walk in and see their cute little service.  It sure helped me get over my little temper in a hurry. 

I am trying to not lose my patience so easily.  It can be difficult when the kids are talking to me all at once, or fighting with each other, or needing me to do something for them at the same moment, etc.  Add in me feeling emotionally exhausted or physically tired or hungry, and we have a recipe for disaster. 

It can be so much easier to see the problems and nag, than to see the good and praise it up and down.  But I am trying to focus more on seeing the positive. 

There is a scripture in the New Testament that explains, "Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but [only] that which is good [and] edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers."  Ephesians 4:29.

That is what I want to do.