Kill 'em with Kindness

Shew, thank God I'm taking the weekends off of "intentionally being kind" because man, it's rough!  I blew my top on Sunday once and actually had to ask for forgiveness from the boys.  I'm hoping that instead of them needing counseling later in life, that they'll reflect back and say, "Wow, mom, she wasn't perfect, but she knew when she screwed up and she apologized to us.  Even though we were just little kids.  Wow, her modeling forgiveness to me...well, it's just...life changing."  Hmm...I like that.  A mom can dream, right?  Anyhoo, here's how we're starting off so far...

Monday--R found these Rainbow Brite/Punky Brewster sunglasses that for some crazy reason my mom STILL had from when I was 8.  Go figure.  She has trouble letting go--oh God, don't EVEN get me started on that one!  I told M that when I was his age I used to wear different colored jellies.  Like a purple one on the right foot and a pink one on the left.  Yes, even then, I was a trend setter!

Tuesday-we are in the midst of making a tough decision that will impact M big time. He was emotionally pleading his case and instead of interrupting him (like I so typically do) I let him go. (I think he'll be a great attorney one day...let's get through primary school first though.)

Wednesday--Today was M's track and field day. I had a class to teach during his events and he was disappointed that I had to leave so I scrapped my lesson plans and took my 7th graders over to the track to cheer M and his class on.He was over the moon to see all the big kids there!!!

Thursday--I tickled M.  At first he thought, "mom, come on...I'm too cool for this!"  But I loosened him up and he about peed his pants laughing!

Friday--I worked out this morning!  Went to the gym and worked out!  I.  Felt.  Amazing.  But to keep my sanity, knowing I had to come back home and still get M and P ready, I dressed M before I left and left him for dead!  What a wonderful idea you may be saying!  I KNOW!  It was so smooth walking it to a fully dressed lad.  It definitely made our morning run smooth as silk.  Now I just have to break the news to him that the little boy who was supposed to spend the night won't be able to.  Sheesh.  I can't catch a break.  Thank God it's the weekend and my "kindness" is taking a couple days off.  Just kidding.  Not really.  :-D

Freedom

So J went to Haiti in March and someone on the team snapped a picture that I LOVE.  These women are SO beautiful.  They are so happy.  They look truly free.  They are dancing in the Lord.  They have nothing.  But they have more than me.  They are poor, yet rich.  I am jealous of them.  I love them.  And I can't wait to meet them one day.

Kickoff to Kindness

My main goal for this year was to "make an effort."  In everything I do.  Make an effort.  Instead of telling the boys, "Wait a minute", I'll go right then.  As soon as I think about doing push ups, I stop right then and there and do them.  When I walk by the sinkful of dirty dishes, I unload the dishwasher and load it back up.  Make an effort with the Lord, J, all my kids, my job...wow, lots of people/things pull from me.
Here we go...

Monday-I didn't get up tight with M on the way to school. We actually goofed and laughed big time!! Very refreshing!

Tuesday--I thanked him for talking so kindly to R. A HUGE deal for M!

Wednesday--we talked about our favorite colors. I told him mine was blue because that was the color of his eyes.

Thursday--I told him I loved him to the moon and back. And because he's now a huge "Legend of Zelda" fan he threw in "the moon on Majero?". Yes son. Whatever the heck that is...

Friday--we played out in the yard.  All of us.  Well, P was in lock down in her car seat with the door open, but only because she kept eating the bushes.  *note to self, ask ped about vitamin deficiency...Anyway, the boys got frisbees in their Easter baskets and we had THE best time playing.

Great kick off if I do say so myself!

I'll have a bottle of water please...hold the lemon

I was drinking one of my 42 bottles of water that I literally have to force myself to drink.  I HATE drinking water.  My body screams for a citrus-y sip of Dt. Mountain Dew.  Water is so boring.  So bland.  But since I gave up pop on December 31st at 11:59, I have promised not to go back. 

One day I took a drink of water and something hit me: I don't realize how thirsty I am until I take that first drink of water.  It's not until I'm 5 big gulps in that I'm thinking, "holy smokies, I was so thirsty!"  I think I'm the same way with the Lord.  Especially during praise and worship.  I don't realize how thirsty I am for God until I get into praise and worship.  It's totally my favorite time of church.  I love the word, don't get me wrong, but there is something so intimate about worship.  It's just me and Jesus.  Packed sanctuary or not.  But that's how I feel while drinking water.  Praise and worship, spending time with the Lord, is my bottle of water.  I can feel the last song getting ready to close and I want more.  I want to signal the praise and worship leader and say, "C'mon!  Please, just one more!"  All good things must come to an end I guess.  It makes me look forward to the next time.  When I get in, take a sip, and keep drinking because I didn't realize how thirsty I was.

The Land of Laziness...I am it's Queen.

We took the kids to a science museum over Spring Break and I got a HUGE revelation.  I am a lazy parent.  Not one who lies on the couch, watching tv and eating the proverbial bon bon...but when it comes to my kids and interacting with them; I'm SO lazy.  Unintentional.  I learned this when we visited the Kidspace area of the museum.  There were children and parents EVERYWHERE.  As P was toddling everywhere, M was locked in the "big kids area" and R was stomping over pirate ships, all I could think was, "I wish I could sit down somewhere."  As I'm feeling sorry for myself, I see mom #1 having a puppet show with her little girl, dad #2 having a pretend sword fight with his son, mom #3 sprawled in the floor building a block tower.  Hmmm, me, not so much.  God checked me.  Let the revelating begin.

So when I got home I came across a link on Pinterest from a lady named Alissa from  "Creative with Kids" and she was issuing a challenge for "showing kindness to your kids."  When I first saw this, I thought, "I'm kind to my kids...this won't be hard."  Then I read the ideas.  Yikes.  Some of those required a lot of me.  Maybe I'll skip that one.  The boys won't care about that one... then I thought to myself, "Self, the children won't look back on their lives with me and think, 'Boy I sure am glad mom did so much laundry and took so much time picking up the crap we left ALL over the house...that meant so much to me.'  Nope they'll probably do what I am now thinking, 'I know my mom loved me, she sacrificed a lot for me, but she never played with me.'  I don't care if they think I was a cool, fun mom, but I do care that their memories were of me spending time with them.  And if I keep on the track I'm on now, it ain't a happenin.

I printed off the 100 suggestions and I'm determined to NOT let this new challenge to die on the road to Hell paved with good intentions.  Not only am I the Queen of Lazy Land, but I am also Queen Inconsistancy.  I start with tee-riffic ideas but usually by day 4, it's at the bottom of the God knows where.

I'm starting Monday.  I'm doing this.  I want kindess from my children, so I'm going to sow it into them. I want activity from M, because quite frankly, his pupils are so big from vegging out in the dark basement playing video games and his skin SO white from lack of Vitamin D exposure...is it any wonder?  It's because I don't model it.  I have so many important things to do, like *gasp* load the dishwasher!   This will be my accountability.  I will log each thing I do here as a reminder to myself the law of sowing and reaping.

Here we go!