Working on Patience

After I wrote my last blog, I decided to focus more on my patience with my kids. That evening I decided it might be fun to make home-made pizza. There would be enough things involved in making it that everyone would be able to have a job or two. We would be making two pizzas: one cheese and the other hamburger.

I put Logan in charge of browning the hamburger as he is getting old enough to understand that the pan gets very hot and you just hold on to the handle. He did a fine job and asked questions when he needed.

The girls and Carter helped make the pizza dough. They each got to pour in some mix or water and all got to stir it up. Even Grace had a good time participating.

We all tried to spread the crust out on the sheets, but that posed more difficult than it should have been. It was quite sticky, so I ended up getting it as spread out as I could. But we all had a great time getting our hands dirty and sticky with dough. All except Grace this time.

Logan topped his with his browned hamburger while everyone else spread out the cheese. Grace had a good time trying to eat hers before I could get it into the oven.

They baked up well and we all enjoyed a memory filled pizza for dinner!

The best part for me was seeing them all work together and realizing when I really try, I can be patient with them all. I hope this will jump start me onto a different path that includes more patience with my family and in my life.

Patience is Helped with Gardening

Patience is not a virtue that I posses. What I thought might help me with this is gardening. For a long time now I have enjoyed plants and planting them. I'm not sure I pick the best varieties to go together, but I love taking an ordinary piece of ground and making it look like something. I used to want to be a landscape architect, but that never became a reality.

Yesterday I finished planting my vegetable garden and planted some annual flowers along my walkway. My kids love to help my in this chore, but me with no patience, has difficulty in letting them do this. I stupidly don't want them getting dirty. They are kids for goodness sake! Let them be! Enjoy this time with them and try to teach them something! Why can't I just relax and have fun? In my mind is how long this will take if I do it vs. how long if they help, and how much other stuff I need to get done. I don't over schedule them with extra-curricular activities, but I should schedule my day a ton better to help me and possibly teach them better.

With gardening, you have to plant and be patient and watch it grow. Then you can witness the beautiful flowers and fruit that they give you. Parenting is no different. You have a baby, nurture and teach it, and enjoy this beautiful creation that God has given you. Hopefully, I can be much more patient with my children and remember that they are precious beings that will one day be gone from my home. I have this one and only time with them now to teach and nurture them. To show them how God is love and how He wants us to live.

Patience is hard for me, but if I can get it right (and fast), maybe I can pass along this wonderful trait to them.