On Patience (again)

I was thinking about why I get impatient with my family.  Impatience seems to have selfishness at the root of it.

God is so very slow to get angry with me.  He offers me patience, and yet I begrudgingly offer patience to my family.  

Maybe I'm impatient because I don't fully appreciate His patience with me.  

Perhaps as I marinate in God's patience, His compassion, His mercy, His unfailing love and His faithfulness, I will more readily extend patience to others.  

Thinking on God and all of his goodness could be what needs to be changed in my life.

But you, O Lord,

are a God of compassion and mercy,

slow to get angry

and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness.

Psalm 86:14, NLT

Dominique

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Not Fragile

I'm so glad my God is not fragile.  

The struggles of this life evoke tough questions.  Some Christians get scared of those tough questions.  They're scared that Truth won't hold up the answers in and to the hard times of life. 

"How long will you hand down unjust decisions by favoring the wicked?"

"Has He rejected me forever?"

"Is His love gone forever?"

"Have His promises permanently failed?"

"Has God forgotten to be gracious?"

"Has He slammed the door on His compassion?"

God isn't scared of tough questions.  He inspired for those questions to be recorded in Psalms 77 and 82... IN THE BIBLE.

Take your tough questions straight to God.  Let Him sort it out. 

Perhaps we'll remember, like the writer of Psalms did, all that God has done for us!  And yes, though the wicked prosper here, that will not always be the case.

Dominique

I Would Know

If I had a New Year's Resolution, it might be to never clean up after any of my children again. 

This means that instead of quickly cleaning up a certain little person's desk, "Just so we can get started," I supervise clean up.  

Instead of gathering up crafting scraps off the floor for the umpteenth time, just so I don't have to look at them again, I call the responsible party in and ask them what they think they need to do. 

When Blossom4 spent a half hour, playing quietly at rest time the other day and I stood at the door of her room gaping at the Stormageddon-like chaos, instead of freaking out, I camped out on the floor by her door and supervised clean up.  

Nine times out of ten, I find they really do know what should be done.  It makes me wonder if they are trying to get away with as little as possible. 

A kid would never do that. 

I would know; I was a kid once. 

Dominique

The Why (and I) of Impatience

Why am I impatient with my family? 

I'm impatient when I think that someone is infringing on my time, on my right to finish what I'm doing. 

I'm impatient when I have to repeat myself over and over again to the Blossoms.  I think I should only have to say things once and be obeyed.  They should get it right the first time.

I'm impatient when I'm tired and I think I should not have to deal with something frustrating. 

There's a lot of "me, my and I" in those sentences. 

At the heart of impatience is a "me, my and I" problem.

I'm called to serve, to become nothing so that Christ can become everything.  I have willingly and gladly chosen this life; I have gladly and willingly surrendered my rights.  My impatience is not justified because of the "violation" of my "rights." 

Today, let there be less of me and more of Him.  Let His compassion, mercy, patience, unfailing love and faithfulness ooze out of me.

Dominique

On Passion

Watching a somewhat corny orthopedic care commercial the other day, I was surprised by the depth of truth in their tagline. 

"Never let pain steal your passion."

We have a passion.  We have something instilled in our hearts by our Lord and inevitably, the hard times come.  The resistance.  The bumps.  The tough days.  The horrible circumstances.  The real life.  The nitty-gritty.   

We feel pain.  We feel discouraged.  We feel let down.  We feel forgotten.  

We cannot forget the promise.  He's there with us.  We can't let pain steal our passion.  

If He put the passion in our hearts, He will continue the good work He's doing in us.  

Never let pain steal your passion.

Dominique

Slow Down

The older the Blossoms get, the more I notice how they are bothered when I answer too quickly.

Let's say one Blossom asks my opinion on what she's wearing.  I'm scurrying back and forth throughout the house, helping some Blossoms get their hair done, gathering whatever needs to go out the door with us, trying desperately to try my new lip stuff without smearing it all over my face and helping everyone find all the stuff they need. 

I say, "Yes, that looks good," as I breeze past on to the next person toward my bathroom vanity.

The thing is, I meant what I said.  I rarely say things I don't mean.  I value honestly deeply.  

The fact  that I did not stop, I did not look her in the eyes bothers her.  

I'm trying every day to slow down, answer calmly and genuinely, while looking her in the eyes.  I get it, because I appreciate that too.

Sometimes we just need to slow down.

Just Make it a Bar Cookie

Sometimes we just need to get real about how much time we have for certain things.  You cannot do it all, which is ironic, coming on the heels of Monday's post. 

On this particular day, I needed a fun, festive dessert, but I didn't have the time for rolling the cookies by hand.  Neither did the Blossoms. 

I think I've just proven that most cookies are still fabulous as a bar cookie.  In fact, this was my regular Peanut Butter Blossoms recipe, straight out of my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. 

The bar cookies were moister than individual cookies!

#makeitabarcookie

It is Finished

We mamas sometimes get discouraged when we can't finish something in an hour or even in a day.  It isn't like the pre-children days when we could start a project and see it through the end in one session.  We didn't even have to eat til we were done if we didn't want to!

 "What?  The little humans need to eat... AGAIN??"  

"Seriously?!!??"

Throw in the thought of trying to learn a new skill on those terms.  Things are just different with offspring around.

Along with many other things, learning a new skill can still be done.

I just have to prepare myself that it is going to take a longer amount of time.  

When we're honest about what can and can't be done with the daily demands of stay at home wife and motherhood, we can adjust our attitudes to a more realistic level of accomplishment.  

Here it is!  I finished my fingerless mitts.  It only took 2 months, but I did it.  I'm so excited to have "mastered" a new skill!

Don't give up!  What you're doing will take longer, but you can still do it!

Dominique

PS - Sending a shout out to my friend, Jess, who learned to knit alongside me, and Michele, who gave me the awesome funky needles as my welcome to the world of knitting gift!

A Little Creative

Sometimes the Blossoms get a little creative with dog treat dough...

Fantastic Festive Food

This is my contribution to our cookie swap.  The Blossoms and I were itching to try out a chocolate cookie press cookie.  We decided that they tasted like brownie in a mug in cookie form!!

I've never done a cookie swap before, but this one was a blast!  Our cookies were gone by day #2.  The most unique cookie I tasted was a Lemon Coconut Snowball.  It's a hit with me!  It was that perfect something different kind of cookie that December needs!

I normally do a tray for the Rugged Mountain Man's employees.  This year, I went more for a snack tray, rather than sweets tray.  It was a bit quicker to put together and was a hit with everyone.  

"...She works with her hands in delight." 

Sometimes we work with our children... 

sometimes we enjoy each other's handiwork... 

sometimes we enjoy quick and easy handiwork.

But we do it with delight.

Dominique

Proverbs 31:13, NASB

"Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible® (NASB),
Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973,
1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation 
Used by permission. www.Lockman.org"

Truly Tea Time

I do love a good tea time.

My sister likes to make my birthday special by putting in the time for all those extra special touches.

Sumptuous table cloths, cheery candles, divine Christmas china...

Food that delights the tea-loving soul:

~ BLTea Sandwiches

~ Finger Sandwiches

~ Nutella Mousse in Chocolate Shells

~ Berry Lemon Curd Cups

And all you can drink tea of your choice.  

Sitting around the festive tea table with our Blossoms and Sprouts was a truly a splendid birthday treat.

Is He Really?

Have you ever thought your hope was in God? 

You find yourself amidst a stinky we-live-in-a-fallen-world kind of incident, like a cuddly rabbit biting your Blossom4, and you comfort yourself with things like,

"It'll heal alright.  We've cleaned it up well."

"I put Vaseline on it multiple times a day, just like Google said."

"She's resilient."

"Little kids' skin heals magnificently."

Then you read this,

"You ALONE are my hope."

I sip my black tea, curled up in my chair and ask myself, "Are You alone my hope?"  That's what quiet time is for; to ask the hard questions and listen for the real answers. 

There's nothing wrong with Vaseline or natural remedies or countless other good things that I often utilize and am thankful for in prosperous America, but...

Where does my hope lie?  What is it that makes me lay my head down and sleep soundly?  That's the thing that I've put my hope in. 

Probably a rabbit bite doesn't seem like a big deal to you, but surely there's something in your own life where this can be applied. 

In all things, in all situations, with whatever that is available to us,

can I truly say, "You ALONE are my Hope?"

Dominique

Psalm 71:5, NLT, my emphasis added
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

A Local Museum

Our homeschool group did their most recent session as a session of field trips.  

What a fantastic idea! Our portfolios are looking spiffy at the school year halfway mark.  

This impressive mural surrounded the display that commemorated trench warfare.  Since our guide was a chemist, we learned a lot about the evolution of chemical warfare.

This local military museum tour was well tailored to all the age groups, which is something we all appreciate.

We enjoyed seeing all the military vehicles and weapons.  Blossom4 especially loved the jeeps!

I'm pretty sure the part of the field trip devoted especially to the history of tanks was the favorite though.

The monuments were solemn and the scenery was lovely.  We do live in a splendid part of the Northeast.  

The ice cream afterward was a huge hit too.  I love it when a day of learning can be fun, scenic, yummy AND educational.