Patience and Shoes

I am teaching a lesson on patience this Sunday at church and all I can say is - what a fitting topic for me to focus on this week! Steve has been in Washington DC on business since Tuesday. I know that isn't long, so I made a goal be extra patient for my kids' sake knowing Steve wouldn't be here to 'share in the fun' of the daily routine here at home.
Tuesday came and went - and I have to say that my patience goal was on my mind constantly from about 7:30 am till the kids' bedtime at 8:30. I did my best to react the way I should when it came to bad drivers, tight schedules, hungry kids, hungry me, homework, kid squabbles, and bedtime. Needless to say - I was ready for bed by 9:30.
Wednesday, I planned a little reward for myself to look forward to at the end of the day if I could keep focused on my patience goal. After I put the kids to bed - DVD night began with my friend Rachel complete with popcorn, brownies, and our favorite diet beverage (gotta have balance). It was AWESOME. So much so that we repeated DVD night Thursday (this time with popcorn, strawberry shortcake and another diet beverage - again - balance.) So when my patience was challenged 10 munutes into our movie when Sophie came out to cry a bit and wanting me to read her a story - I thought - No problem! I read a quick story - probably challenging my friend's patience - and tucked her in...again.
This morning, I prayed for patience for another day ahead. Getting kids out the door can be particularly stressful since we have to leave at 7:55 and my kids aren't necessarily morning people. I decided to give myself the best odds at being patient by getting up extra early to make lunches. All was quiet as I was slicing carrots with my 'cleaver', until I felt this brush against my side. I whirled around baring my weapon at who or whatever had sneaked into my kitchen to find Alex looking at me with terror in her eyes. Surprised she had scared me, she burst into tears and I remembered "patience" so instead of telling her about the heart attack I had just experienced and lecturing her on why we don't sneak up on someone with sharp kitchen utensils, I just hugged her on my lap. I knew this was going to be a challenging day in terms of patience, but I was determined not to lose to my instincts! Well, it came time to go - and I called to Matt to put on his shoes and meet us in the van. Now, Matt insists upon shoes that are a bit high in price - so we split the cost. I tell him, "You have to make these last! I can't open a Matt Shoe Fund in the budget to keep you in new shoes every 2 months." So I simply tell him to unlace his shoes to take them off and put them on. Matt doesn't understand the logic behind this. So when he began to put on his shoes in the usual way of cramming his foot in and destroying the heel, I thought "Patience." My camera just happened to be sitting on the ledge by the door and I decided to take the frustration energy I was feeling and do a little photo shoot of Matt putting on his shoes.
He kept asking what I was doing, why was I taking pictures of his feet? It worked! Instead of ranting about the constant destruction of his shoes putting us in the poor house - I ended up with Matt laughing at his crazy mother and me reaching toward my goal. Steve gets home tonight at 11:30. I can't wait.