The Highs and Lows of Real Life

Well, here I am again. My blogging experience has taken a nose dive - I just don't seem to be into it lately, but this morning I need to get some feelings out and this seems to be the best way to do it. Maybe God will even grant me the ability to find a little humor in it; then again, maybe it just really is incredibly depressing!

So, we are in the highs and lows of parenting right now. I have one child who absolutely adores me and wants to marry me and another who seems to be unable to stand the ground that I walk on. I'll let you figure out who's who! Seriously, why didn't somebody warn me how hard parenting was going to be before I had kids. Actually, I think that Craig and I have been blessed with two wonderful kids and have not had too many issues in these first 10 years or so. Okay, I had one really hard year with Kayla when she was three. Sometimes I still have nightmares about that year. Oh, and then there was the whole three and a half year potty training stint with Tyler. But, both of those things ended pretty well - Kayla is still alive and well with little or no side effects from her year of being three and, yes, Tyler is fully potty trained - thank You Jesus - I do NOT take those things lightly.

However, we are now entering the stage of ATTITUDE. By attitude, I mean, occasional eye rolling, yelling, tears, lots of tears, pouting, scowling, hair flinging, body stomping, etc. Again, Thank YOU Jesus that we have a very normal nine year old. Now if I could just find a way to deal with normal. Do ya'll have any idea how hard it is to have one kid who is in probably the cutest stage of life and then another kid who is entering the pre-pub years??? I mean, basically, you feel like you are playing favorites all the time and it is so not like that. Let me give you the run down on my morning and maybe you will understand. I wake Kayla up at 7:20 so she will be ready for us to leave at 8:05. Her lunch and snacks for the day are packed and waiting and ready on the counter. Her clothes are laid out on her dresser; oh yeah, they're actually not, because she "didn't hear me tell her that". By the time she gets dressed and out to the kitchen it is about 7:35, not too bad, and I am heading to the shower. Ya'll, I took a shower, put my makeup on, and was getting ready to blow dry my hair and she was STILL eating breakfast!!! I calmy explain to her that we are leaving in 8 minutes. "Okay, mom". Eight minutes later I walk out to the kitchen and say, "let's go", to which she responds, "what? what do you mean let's go?". Yea, I'm so NOT kidding. Calmly, I reply, "let's go, let's get in the van, it's time to leave". Please enter attitude here. Let's suffice it to say that things went down here quickly from here. Praise God, I did manage to maintain a calm exterior while boiling over on the interior. The ride to school ended with her kissing Tyler and almost completely ignoring me as she got out of the van at school; I think I got a mumbled "bye", to which I calmly and even cheerfully responded, "bye sweetie, have a great day, really enjoyed that hug, I love you". This is where the difference in the ages of my kids come up. On the way to school Tyler wants to know when he will have a spiritual birthday to which I respond that he has to have Jesus in his heart to have a spiritual birthday to which he basically replied that he and Jesus had already covered all of this in an earlier conversation! Then from there he proceeds to tell me that he loves that story about Daniel and the giant and how Daniel killed the giant with a slingshot and a stone. I let him know that that is David, David and the Giant, and that the giant's name was Goliath. To which Tyler responds, "that's a tiny name for a really, really big guy". How do you find the balance between these ages of attitude and tiny names for really, really big guys? I'm praying that God will help me to find a way to enjoy my daughter at the age that she is at and He does give those times. She talks to me about what is going on at school even if somedays it is because I have pulled and dragged it out of her. I can see why some parents begin to lose their kids at this age - it is a frustrating stage. BUT, we will continue to press on, and with God's help we will get through this stage and maybe even someday she will like me. This is the point where I am reminded again that I am not here to be my children's friends, but I am here to shepherd them and guide them and train them. Ugh!

Thank you for tuning in to "Real Life with the Churchill's" this morning. Happy Monday people!