My Faith and Joy… and Boys!

I am trying to do my best to impart the wisdom of the Lord to my children.  Lately, I’ve been working specifically with Becky on how to deal with to difficult situations.  She has a bit of a temper, and I’ve struggled with not losing my own when faced with her tantrums.  The Bible teaches us to avoid knee-jerk frustration and instead react with peace and joy when we are faced with obstacles: “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.”  (James 1:2-3).  So, when Becky starts losing her cool because something isn’t going her way, I’ve been holding up two fingers and calmly stating, “Two choices.  You can get frustrated, or you can be joyful and fix it.”  To my surprise, this often gets her to stop, look up, giggle, and repeat, “Be joyful and fix it.”  Then, I suggest a course of action to help her get what she wants.  For example, she sometimes falls to the floor in a crying heap when Susie takes a toy away from her.  So after she chooses to “be joyful and fix it,” I instruct her to ask Susie, “Please may I play with the toy after you’re done.”  In response, Susie usually says, “When I’m done,” and then hands the toy back to Becky after a few minutes.  This dialogue isn’t fool-proof, and doesn’t always end well, but it does serve to help cool the tempers involved, and also helps me to keep my own head and not lash out in similar frustration. 

I only relate the above conversation to shed light on what happened a few days ago.  While trying to throw together a makeshift dinner and holding Jimmy at the same time, I dropped an open can of red kidney beans (in a light sauce, no less), which splattered all over the counter, floor, kitchen mat, and me (Jimmy emerged un-sauced).  I angrily exclaimed, “MAN!” as I surveyed the damage and tried to figure out how I was going to salvage dinner, and how I was going to put Jimmy down without having him crawl through the wreckage.  Becky appeared at my side, smiled brilliantly up at me, and said, “Be joyful and fix it!”  I kissed the child right then and there.  Oh, how I needed to hear that, to be reminded of God’s wisdom that we are to face all obstacles, whether they be boulder-sized or kidney bean-sized, with joy.  We are to seek a peaceful resolution that pleases God and preserves our testimony as children of God.  And in that moment, God reminded me that my own children are watching.  And they’re learning.

Dinner was very good that night, even with scraped-back-into-the-can beans.  Joy has a way of making even last-minute meals taste better. 

I found a few more pictures of our trip hiding away on my phone.  I miss our Pennsylvania friends and family already!

Here are the girls learning how to play video games:

And here is Jimmy learning how to lick the glass door:

And here are Jimmy and Jake learning how to enjoy football like big boys!