As Lazy As We Dare To Be

Yesterday was one of those really rough days.  I mean the one where every ounce in your is fighting for patience.  You hand is shaking holding onto it yet it feels as if you can't hold on it much longer.  I know in time like these it's helping me to stretch just a little more.

Well, it really started the night before.  Caleb is just liking his freedom out of a crib way too much.  He will get up in the middle of the night and stalk the house.  I've actually had to put a gate up just to keep in the back part of the house where he can't get into any trouble. He only has access to our bedrooms.  So of course he liked to go and wake everyone up. Well, last night I woke up at midnight hearing a baby in a tricycle.  Normally that's pretty cute but I was exhausted and he woke up and was wide awake!  I laid him down at least 10 times.  Over and over and over.  I just would get up out of bed, pick him up, tell him it was time to sleep, and lay him back in his car bed.  This happened several times till I heard Ryan getting up complaining that Caleb was crawling all over him.  Finally, so they could rest, I laid him down with me.  He laid awake about an hour till he finally fell asleep.  Well I didn't because I was worried about him rolling off my high bed.  Eventually around 2:30am I was able to transfer him to his bed.  Back in the day, when I had only a couple of kids, this would've frustrated the dickens out of me.  learning patience is not just a chore, it will keep your sanity as you learn it.  


I woke up tired and got a cup or coffee.  I tucked my bible under my arm and went into the school room to study.  My coffee can get cold really fast for some reason but as I was reaching down to grab only my 3rd sip, it was gone!  Then I hear a gulp "Ahhhhh..."  I turn to my side and see that Caleb had grabbed my cup while I had turned my back and completely downed it. That little booger.  He was even licking his lips.

My heart was kind of heavy hearing about people around me getting abortions and that's how I wrote the abortions post.  However, when I went to go view my blog yesterday, another page pops up saying my blog was blocked because of malware!!  What???  I ran a diagnostics test through Google and it said my blog was totally clean.  However, I have to have my site submitted to Google for review just to have warning removed.  It also said it can take several weeks.  I was so sad thinking no readers would come.  That process took me around 2 hours so we were already starting homeschool late.

Starting homeschool late is NOT good because last week my K12 computer, that is protected by Norton, got a virus and was wiped clean.  Until K12 sends me a repair disk, we are working from one computer.  That is not easy when you have 4 kids doing some of their work from the computer.

Finally about midway through the day I was tired of hearing arguing going on in the house, plus I was discouraged at the mess around me so we took a break from learning and had a family meeting.  I grabbed my notebook, pencil, and bible and we gathered in the living room.  It was hard to get 6 squirmy kids to settle down and be quiet so we could have a discussion.  I read out of Matthew 18:15.  I read it from the children's bible to make it as simple as possible.

"If your brother sins against you, go and tell him what he did wrong.  Do this in private.  He he listens to you, then you have helped him to be your brother again."

I told them that before they come to me they need to work it out with each other. If your brother or sister does something to you that offends you, you need to tell them and work it out before coming to me.  If I have to get involved then it'll change how it's handled.  Like when two kids were fighting over the toy, the offended one ran to me and I reminded her to work out something with her sister.  Since they couldn't, I took the toy away for several hours from both of them.

Then we discussed new chores and how we can make it work more efficiently.  NOBODY was happy and every one moaned.  I again reminded them that if they only picked up after themselves the chores would be done in a snap.  I explained that if all of us left out just 10 items apiece in one day, that's 80 items left around the house.  Whether it's a dish, toy, shoes, clothes, toothbrush.  It adds up fast.  After I had a vote on the chores and who takes what I made a rough draft of what the chart will look like.  I also gave them breaks in their homeschooling so they can have more breathers.  Since we were talking about picking up after themselves, I decided that would be our character quality of the week.

Initiative vs. Unresponsiveness

Recognizing and doing what needs to be done before I am asked to do it.

Romans 12:21

There were still lots of moaning and complaining.  Little boogers.  If they had it their way, they would never do any work and would play all day.  Then again, I guess we are all as lazy as we dare to be.  We fight it till the day we die.  At least for me!

Even as frustrating as this day was I reminded myself to thank God.  We got to have a bible time together, memorize scripture, get that new chore list started, and I got to have a really great talk with Ryan about things on his heart.  In the end, his grouchiness disappeared and Chaz just needed something in his tummy.  :)