Whining

As I'm getting out of the shower, I hear Peanut whining in frustration and saying (in that whiny sing-song voice only a little kid can achieve) "I can't get it open!" I hear this and the accompanying whining over and over as I dry off and start to get dressed. She realizes I'm out of the shower and comes to me, still whining about not being able to get this little plastic purse open. Then, she stops whining and shows it to me to indicate she can't get it open and right then, it opens. And she says, "Oh, it opened."

So I tell her, "Well, you were whining so much you couldn't concentrate on actually accomplishing what you were trying to do." Of course she shrugs and goes on her merry way with a purse she can now stuff full of treasures (crayons, magnets, little scraps of paper). Meanwhile, I'm standing there with wet hair dripping onto my shirt and water sloshing in my ears being hit with the full impact of what I just said.

You see, I belong to the LDS church and we believe that God is literally our Father. The Father of our spirits. I didn't grow up in the church or as part of any church and I never really put much thought into who God was. When I was looking for something spiritual in my life, hearing this concept made automatic sense to me. I believe so strongly in this concept that I can see the parallel of God's relationship to me and my relationship with my kids. So very often when I tell them something (usually some great words of wisdom I'm proud of sharing) I will hear it echoed back to myself like my Father is whispering it to me too.

"Well, you were whining so much you couldn't concentrate on actually accomplishing what you were trying to do." I immediately thought of so many good tasks I set out to do but when the going got rough I began to whine rather than see the task to the end. You know, those silly things in life...food storage, exercise, learning skills...I have wonderful intentions but I have a bad habit of expecting things to work out nicely. And really, how often do things in life work out nicely? Sometimes I think I want to put in a 25-30% effort and have the Lord fill in the rest. What I forget is that because I am mortal, I can never do enough and the Lord will always have to help. But first he expects MY 100% effort, then He'll step in.

I should always seek the Lord's will through prayer, scripture study and pondering. But then, I should be throwing myself into a task with a 100% effort. I don't think I do that a lot of times now. I throw myself into it but usually at the first obstacle, I fall over and play dead. Then the whining begins, "I can't do this. It's too hard."

I don't mind it when my 6 year old needs my help with something and she comes to ask for help. But it really irritates me when she spends more energy whining and bemoaning than actually trying to do the thing she wants done. Especially something I know is within her power to do. Don't we often find ourselves as parents saying, "Come on, you can do it. I know you can." But they don't trust you, they don't think they can do it so rather than trying......they whine.

Thank you Father for yet another lesson learned through the blessing of parenting. I don't know how much it will sink in but I will be pondering this for awhile and trying to not whine so much. I will try to trust You and know that You know what I can accomplish, so much more than I do.

I'm in love!

Can I just say, I'm in love with my blog! Sorry honey, but there's a new love in my life!!!

How good it feels to have a place I can share pictures of my beautiful family as well as my thoughts and feelings. What a great way to communicate!! I'm still figuring things out so the blog will probably change here and there. I hope you all will leave comments or sign the guestbook so I know how things look!

Check out my Slide Show!

Christmas 2007

I thought I'd recap Christmas of 2007. We have always been very blessed every Christmas. I'm so thankful to friends and family who have helped us out when they felt we were in need. We have never suffered for anything and I'm so grateful. I'm posting a picture of our tree as it looked after 'Santa' and before sleepy-eyed kids woke up. The little doll bunkbed was a loving creation of my Dh and I for our girls. We saw one in a catalog and decided we could make it ourselves for cheaper. We got a great deal of help from Dh's parents who came up at the end of November. Dh and Fil (Father in law) did the actual bunk, Mil (Mother in law) and I did the mattresses, blankets and pillows.

Grandma (my Mom) got to play Santa, picking up the things the kids had asked Santa for. It was our first Christmas without my Grandma who passed away in January 2007 so it was really bittersweet. I miss my Grandma every single day. It was a rough year in many ways. My Mom lost her beloved horse and 2 dogs. One of those dogs was her substitute when I went away to college. Very rough. But my kids keep us all going and I am so very grateful for each one of them and the things they teach me.

Here we go!

Okay, so I've decided to enter the world of blogdom. I don't know if that is a word but then I don't know if 'blog' is a word either so there you go. I have viewed the blogs of other homeschooling mothers and have to state upfront that I have a lot to learn. I almost didn't do this for fear of looking the fool but then decided my purpose isn't to show my genius but rather to provide a place for friends and family to keep up with us. Plus, now I have a great place to put all of the things I do learn so that they don't get lost like what happens now.

I'm excited for this but must admit that I am a horrible journal keeper so I'm making no promises as to how updated I'll keep this blog. All I can promise is my best. I'm grateful to all of the homeschool mothers who have provided the example that encouraged me to try this.