Friday, January 20, 2012

The parenting gig

Who said parenting is easy? 

I am grateful that after 6 months of Dariya being home that I haven't had to write this post sooner.  However, this week was incredibly hard.
Just because I am cute doesn't mean I don't have an attitude some days...
The girls have been at each other nearly every minute of the day.  ALL.WEEK. LONG!   They BOTH have been irritable, hitting, biting, taking toys from one another, and the list could go on.  Ms. Juanita even called to say that Dariya hit Alayna at school. 

Until this week Dariya had hardly ever laid a finger on Alayna.
Dariya bit Alayna on the tummy 
Now I can understand getting irritated at each other once in a while or one day but, I have spent much of the week putting the girls in the naughty chair (which for our girls is highly effective).

For example, Dariya was in the naughty chair and once I brought her out she went to apologize to Alayna and Alayna slapped her in the face. 

Seriously?  What the heck is going on?

Dariya hasn't been sleeping at nap time and is getting more and more grumpy and hasn't been eating (ok something is up when Dariya doesn't eat!)  But, no signs of illness.  I have checked her ears a hundred times to see if I am missing something.  But, as of yet nothing.

Then I stopped dead in my tracks and was reminded of  a reading from 1 Thessalonians that we talked about in Bible study where it says can't we all just get along and lift each other up?

I realized I was trying to go at this alone.  Humbled again.  I sat in prayer and asked God to forgive me for my pride, to give me peace, to give us peace, to help me be the mom he is wanting me to be and to lift each of my children up.

Guess what? I woke up the next day and the girls were back to their normal sweetness.  I am not kidding you.  They played together all morning without so much as a grumble, no fighting, no hitting, no taking toys, no naughty chair.  It was so peaceful.  It was a joy to see them crawling under the table to sing songs and play nicely with one another again.

Don't think for a minute that I didn't stop and praise our Father in heaven for providing me with such an amazing respite and answer to my prayers.  I so needed it.

This parenting gig isn't easy but, it is so worth it.

Happy weekend to you all!

 Rejoice always,  pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

4 comments:

Sarah Marie said...

12 year old girls can be fun from time to time as well. :)

courtney said...

sigh...love that my friday delivered a lesson from my friend so gifted in heartfelt intercession...so much to learn from you and your prayers that always begin with the heartfelt praise you feel at knowing they'll be heard and answered.

and good move on dariya's outfit. when in doubt, cute them up. i find it makes them much easier to forgive. at my house, those pink boots could save lives.

Jill said...

What a great reminder, Rochelle! I know I very often try to do it on my own...does NOT work well. Thanks so much for sharing!

Cheryl said...

Sometimes siblings just don't want to get along do they? I'm so glad the Lord answered your prayer.Like Jill said,what a wonderful reminder to go to the Lord in prayer about all things.Great post.I'm gonna have to make the time to get over here to your wonderful blog more often.