Ring, Ring, It's Boots on the phone....

On Saturday, we went over to my sister's house and had soem friends over to swim and eat. Anna Beth was fantastic until our friends left and then she turned quickly. We ened with a very rough afternoon.

We got stuck at their house until 9 pm that night waiting for Anna Beth's car seat to dry after and bit of an accident. When we finally had everything and were ready to hit the door, Anna Beth decided that she was not ready to leave. Brian handed me his cell phone and headed to the kitchen. I was not sure what he was up to but I soon found out. The phone started ringing and I realized that it was Brian on my sister's line. I answered the phone wondering what he was up to and heard the meow. Apparently Boots Kitty Cat Wood was calling! LOL I put Brian on speaker phone and called Anna Beth over. She was facinated when she realized that her cat had called and was asking her to come home. Bootsie never says a word at home other than meow but she talks up a storm over the phone. Brian hung up the phone and Anna Beth took him the phone and said, "Daddy, you want to talk to Bootsie?" I got up and headed around the corner to make the call and play Bootsie for a while. Brad and Denise were about to loose it on the couchand things got worse when Brian asked Bootsie to let him talk to the fish! I was loosing it behind the kitchen counter trying to figure out how to make fish noises and Anna Beth was believing it hook, line and sinker. LOL After the 2nd call, Anna Beth was ready to head home and see her Kitty but the only problem was, that she kept asking to call her cat all the way home.

On Thursday Anna Beth cried (and when I say cried, I mean screamed) non-stop for an hour and 45 minutes. We are having to be careful what battles we choose because we get tired of fighting with her. On Tuesday night, we went to Baskin Robbins for their $ .99 night and she went down a ramp that I told her not to. I told her when she got to the end that she would get a spanking when we got home if she stepped off. She looked at me and stepped off. All the way home, she said, "I don't want a spanking Mommy." I told her that she made that choice so now she had to get her spanking. When we got home, she refused to get out of the car. I unbuckled her car seat and she buckled it back. For 10 minutes she sat in that hot car with the door open and us staring out the window at her. I finally took the plastic spoon to the car and spanked her there. you would have thought that I killed her when in fact, I barely tapped her. She then screamed for another 45 minutes and we had to sling her over the shoulder to carry her in. Why? Why did we end up with the most stubborn child on earth? LOL I have never seen another child with the same determination that she has. She has actually been horse for the last couple of weeks from crying so much. I believe that she is also going through a growth spurt right now because she wakes up every night and has gotten very tall and skinny. Hopefully all will settle down once we get back to the routine of school and she is happy again.

Bible Study in a Storm!

I have been finding it very difficult to get alone with my God lately. Apparently my child feels that she should have my full attention at all times. I have been having my alone time when she was laying down to rest in the afternoons but she is no longer resting. I also felt that it is important for her to see me reading and praying so that she sees that it is a part of our everyday lives. This becomes a bit useless when I yell at her to leave me alone so I can pray! LOL In the end I feel as though this time set aside has been for nought.

There is a balance and I feel that my time is being pushed aside when I also believe that it is more important than ever to have that worship time with the Lord. I love my little girl but I need this and am trying to find a way to make it work together. Oddly enough my time with the Lord today was focused on misplaced attention. My attention has been all over the place lately, not on the matters of my heart. This only seems to be amplified when I am kicking my child out of the room so that I can have a few moments of peace to reflect and meditate on the condition of the heart. I find that instead I am sitting there dwelling on my frustration that I do not have that time and wondering what she is destroying just beyond that door.

She is so precious to me and I am grateful to God that He gave her to me to raise. However in the midst of that I believe that the One to whom I am grateful is also being neglected. Today, while she did give me time alone eventually, she also decided to use that time to "clean and fill" her vaporizer. This ended up being poured all over the carpet in my hallway. Another mess to clean and another time with God interrupted. After fussing, cleaning and a few of my tears I realized that I had just ruined any witness that I might have been to my child today! Where is the balance and will I be able to lead my child toward the Lord?