The Small Things

6 am, the alarm goes off. ::Insert annoying beep! beep! beep! beep!:: Snooze button. 9 more minutes.................

::Again, insert annoying beep! beep! beep! beep!:: Snooze button. 9 more minutes......................This time, my mind is waking up, even though my body is REALLY protesting. I hear in my head: "The reason your children aren't obedient the first time you ask is because YOU are not obedient the first time YOU are called." OUCH! Slap. In. The. Face. Did I really just wake up to that? I did....And I got it. Well, almost. I've been sick for a couple of weeks and mornings are still rough. I did snooze a couple more times.

A few months ago, I was ranting about people not accepting all that God wants to give us. I suppose - only admittable in my more humble moments - I'm no different. Really, He doesn't ask much. Love Him, follow Him, keep His Commandments, Love each other, etc, etc, etc......... Those are all very broad. It's the small things that make up those larger things that are sometimes so......hard........

There are certain things that our family has been struggling with for years, that have only become more challenging since we moved last June. Too much yelling, too much fighting, waaaaaayyyyyy too much negative physical expression, name-calling, mocking, doing everything but what I ask. It is driving me BATTY! I just want some peace! I know I can't change it overnight, but sometimes it's so overwhelming, that I just ignore it. Which is also not productive. =(

Each Sunday, P and I used to have a Family Executive Council meeting. This FEC is P, myself and God. We discuss the week, the kids, the problems, the solutions, and follow-up from previous weeks. But since our meeting block went from the 1-4 schedule to the 9-12 schedule, we haven't had a set time for our FEC, therefore, it isn't happening. Like most tools, it's very effective. But only when it actually gets used. Logically, some of the things we've discussed in this FEC are the above-mentioned issues. Some of the solutions? Go to bed earlier, get up earlier, read scriptures, & pray. Are any of those happening right now? NO! Why? I DON'T KNOW! It's so simple, right? SO WHY ARE THEY SO HARD?

The other part that hurts, is that I know that the kids problems, are our problems. I'm not saying that they're our problems because the kids are ours. I'm saying that they learned them from US! I've long maintained that the habits your children have, that bother you the most, they got from you! I'm not a mean person. I'm not really a yeller, or a hitter, or any of that. Yet, somehow I've found myself as that person from time to time. I know I have to understand how we got "here" in order to get out of "here". It's not really an accumulation of bad habits, but rather a lack of good habits. Those good habits that have been lacking? See the paragraph above where I talk about the solutions we came up with? Yep: go to bed earlier, get up earlier, read scriptures, and pray. Not just once in a while. But consistently, as the word habit implies.

Go to bed earlier
This one thing makes such a HUGE difference! In order to get in bed earlier, there must be some type of routine, right? A dinner-time, pajama-time, reading-time, and bed-time! Maybe I need a great big clock? That probably couldn't hurt! But the real deal would just be to stick to the routine that we've talked about so many times! About a month ago I was listening to my Core & Love of Learning CDs. They're a recorded seminar done by Oliver and Rachel DeMille on the foundational phases of education. In it, speaking of the importance of evenings, Rachel pointed out that the ancient Israelites (or Hebrews, or Jews, I don't remember! LOL) started their day at sundown. What a thought! To spend our afternoon preparing for the evening: aka start of tomorrow? Our afternoons typically don't have a whole lot of direction, because we do the majority of our "stuff" in the mornings and the afternoons are basically free-time for the boys. We'll have to see what I can come up with this week.

Get up earlier
This is a whole lot easier when one has gone to bed at a decent time. Speaking of decent time.....I need to get my kiddos and myself in bed. Now. =) We'll talk tomorrow about getting up earlier. What do you do to make your evenings and bedtimes go better?