Re-establishing the Boundaries

I can post three times in a day if I want to. It's my blog :-)

It's been a day for sure. I came home renewed and encouraged by a couple of conversations I had with a certain very special person.... (more about that later, I promise!) Let's just say it was the boost and inspiration I was needing to carry on with desire. Truly I was feeling depleted of energy and zeal for this huge task and daily grind, but infused with new motivation and encouraged that the direction I was going with the kiddos was the right direction I tackled today with a lot of determination. Hey, this blog is okay, I appreciate the comments and the encouragement, and I've learned a lot from other bloggers and readers, but sometimes I need a real live conversation with a warm body on topics that I can't express well on paper and that I have serious questions about. I've been praying for guidance, for assurance that we were approaching issues and behaviors and challenges in a way that would bring about a change, healing and would be pleasing to the Lord. We really, really can't afford to mess up. There are two souls at stake!  The Lord answered that prayer in an amazing way, the details of which I will save for another post on another day. . .

Today had some bumps from the first. The freedom of running around and playing in the lake without chores, without many expectations for a few days can alter a child's perception of what life is suppose to be like always.... And frankly, the day we packed up and left I was challenged on every level by brazen disrespect, so today was all for re-establishing the boundaries. I did manage to get about 6 gallons of green beans picked, snapped, blanched and frozen in the process (with help ;-) . (Someone asked me the other day how in the world I kept up with everything while spending so much time in child training... The answer; I'm not keeping up. Things are piling up incredibly. I'm no superwoman.)

WOW! What a day. But you know, they went to bed happy. They both had tested the limits and both had decided, several times over and over throughout the course of the day, that it is happier to obey. It is happier to be kind and be sweet than to pout, and fight for their way. Impulsiveness is not easily overcome.  I was as firm and as attentive as I could be and they responded. Yes, they made some sad choices and they endured the results. I wish I could say they are deciding to make better choices for all the best reasons, but they did miss out on a pretty exciting opening night of (yet another) VBS and they were deeply disappointed. I doubt we'll miss tomorrow. They could completely articulate what happened and where they went wrong and why we had to stay home. They also learned a little bit more about what it means to have self-control. They actually tried it out with wonderful results. Hopefully they comprehended a wee bit more the  love that Jesus had to offer them when they knelt with me to ask for power to overcome.