Joy

I am thankful to say that the twins did not plot against me today. What a relief! As always in our household, there was a small issue with our 6 year old, aka wild woman. You may wonder why I call her that. Anyone who has met our little Emily can testify that wild woman is only putting it mildly! She is completely my opposite. She can "work a crowd" by getting a group of kids to do what she wants just because she can make it sound like fun. She has a great sense of humor and it an energetic ball of energy. She loves to dance and thinks she will one day be Hannah Montana's replacement. She is our Emily and we love her dearly. One thing our dear, sweet Emily struggles with is temper tantrums though. Yes, I know what you are thinking. A six year old!!! Yes, I know. We should be long past these terrible little fits, but we are not. I have spanked her, punished her and talked to her. Unfortunately, to little avail. This morning, she decided to enjoy a little TV time before school. This is one of those privileges that is not allowed on school mornings. After hearing this story, you will know why. Emily snuck these few little snippets of TV time relishing in the moment until I asked her what she was doing. She quickly ran upstairs to make herself look busy. Well, I could see at this point that we were not going to have a good morning today. When she gets a taste of relaxation, she just has a problem letting it go. For the time came to leave for school and I bet you can't imagine who did not have her shoes on, her bag packed or her jacket on (she also had forgotten to put her lunchbox up, so that was missing in action as well). These issues might not seem like much to you, but to Emily this is life shattering. I told her it was time to leave and proceded to take the twins out to get in the car. She started screaming. Not just a little scream but a gut wrenching, terrifying, torture to the ears kind of scream. I could hear her quite clearly from outside. In fact had I not been outside, I am pretty sure the neighbors might have called the police to investigate! What to do... I decided today to tell Emily she had a choice to make. She had to decide if she was going to obey by calmly getting into the car or walk herself to school. While the walking to school might be tempting on a warm day, today was no such day. It took her all of maybe 3 seconds to change her mind. The funny thing is that she was able to turn it off that quickly. If anyone has any good ideas on how to make her deal better with her frustration, bring it on! I have done all that my little miniscule mind can think up. It is amazing how God can allow us to have so much love for our little ones yet the frustration we feel when they are not quite perfect can be overwhelming at times. Can you imagine how God feels when we are disobedient? Disappointed? Upset? Frustrated over how many times He has told us? I can't help but wonder if He doesn't feel alot of the same feelings we feel as mothers and fathers. Yet He is gentle in His reminders . Sometimes watching a trial in our lives refine us. Always wanting the best for His children. Allowing us to faulter knowing that it will produce a step forward in spiritual maturity. So, in closing, I believe that this trial I went through with our sweet Emily today, although small, will help her to examine her heart. Thus, I am counting it joy that we went through a little frustration to reach a step forward in maturity! Count it all joy, sistas!