365 Days of Praise Challenge-Day 24

Last night I was in the new spa with my daughter. It's not like we don't get plenty of opportunity to spend time together. That is her love language, quality time, so I make sure she is getting her love tank filled but there is something about relaxing in a hot tub at night with the dark sky and twinkling stars that just made it a very opportune time to really connect with her and see how things are going. So, she opens it up with 'let's talk' so I asked her how things are going at school with teacher, class and friends. Everything is good until we get to the friends part. She tells me one of her friends is hurting her. By this she meant she is getting hit, kicked and scratched by this 'friend'. Unfortunatley, this is not the first time with this 'friend'. They had this same issue back in either Kindergarten or 1st grade and I had to conquer my fears of confrontation and approach the mom at the bus stop and pull her aside to let her know what was going on. It seemed to have stopped but is now rearing it's ugly head. It may be because they are in the same class again but it apparently only happens at the lunch line in school, on the bus or at her house. Hmmmm... sounds like she's only doing this when she knows she can get away with it. Faith is a gentle and very-kind hearted person and says she doesn't want to hurt her feelings but also says she is afraid too because she doesn't want to hurt her more. Oh my... so for the first time probably ever, LOL, I told her I was going to pray about it and talk with Dad about it to see how to proceed. So, that next morning I was taking work off because my shoulder so I walked her over to the bus stop and afterwards walked the mom to her house telling her about the conversation I had with Faith. Of course, the protective defensive nature in a parent came up but we just discussed and decided to give the girls a break from playing with each other and she would talk with their teacher and her daughter. So, although I am not sure she is feeling like this is an issue with her daughter, as Nathan puts it, you have planted the seed and made her aware and that's all you can do at this point. So, I am thanking God for the opportunity to learn more about my daughter and her life and thankful for his guidance in how to deal with it.
Psalm 73:24 You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory.

365 Days of Praise Challenge-Day 16

Have you ever wished for a do-over? Last night was one of those times for me. To make a long story short, I had to pick up my daughter from a Girl Scout meeting because my hubbie was busy with our new spa delivery, a very joyful thing! But. I drove into the fire station drive way and found it was not plowed so I quickly turned and tried to make my way back out and up but unfortunately got stuck. So, I went inside and told the father who is a co-leader for the troop and he was like no problem, I can give you a push. Unfortunately, his idea of a push turned out to be bringing his truck up against the back side of my car. You can already see where this is going, right? I was unfortunately brain dead at the time and just wanting to get home for the joyous celebration of our new spa. Let's just say it could have been worse. I told myself that all the way home after the truck did it's damage and the father figured I should try backing up and going sideways out which, of course, worked. I made even more of a mess of it by putting up my defensive wall thinking what I was doing was being calm about it so I could go home and tell my hubbie what happened. It did not go well. He got mad. I felt blamed. I got mad and stormed off which is my MO and always has been. So, we spent the rest of the evening in angry silence and the eruption occured after I got in bed and broke the silence with a thank you for all you did for the spa stuff today. He was mad but he was more mad at me for storming off and not talking about it. So, what do I find to praise in all this mess. In all the yelling and tears, I prayed for God to help me and I finally just sobbed, "I'm sorry". It really was something so simple. So, in looking back, I wish I could do it all over again and that I would have just picked up my cell and called my hubbie before doing anything but most importantly I wish that I had called on God at that point before the mess rather than in desperation after the mess. So, despite all the bad, I am praising God for helping me learn from it. I am thankful to God for a husband who can forgive me.
Psalm 73:24 You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory.