Another Day

It's been one of those days.

I love my children dearly, and wouldn't trade them for the world; but there are days when the idea of hog-tying them together and then just leaving the house for a while seems very appealing!

For the past 2 mornings, they've hit the ground fighting. They know exactly how to push each other's buttons, and at times seem to get endless entertainment from it. Usually we've found that days which start off with a spanking tend to go more smoothly than days which don't. But that was not the case today. While trying to feed them breakfast, do their hair, dress the little ones and get Rachel ready for school, I gave out 3 spankings. And things just got worse from there.

I had about a dozen "quick" errands to run this morning. Ha! Three young children + lots of rain = slow and frustrating shopping. They picked at each other. They whined. They cried. They had to go potty about every 10 minutes. They splashed in puddles and got soaking wet. They cried some more. They took off their shoes and socks in the van while I was driving. Finally we were finished with most of the errands and had only one left - Wal Mart.

Nearly the entire time, Karis defied everything I told her. She ran so far out ahead that she nearly got lost; she and Zekers tried to play hide-and-seek among the paper towels and ended up knocking almost all of them out into the aisle. She lost her flip-flop and neglected to tell me until several minutes later. Most of all, she would not leave Mr. Moo alone. Strapped into his seat, he was helpless to avoid the kicking and smothering she dished out. By the time we got to the check-out, I'd had it. I told her, in no uncertain terms, that if she so much as touched her brother again she was getting a spanking. Which, of course, she did.

As soon as I informed her that a spanking was forthcoming, the floodgates opened. She brushed up against Malachi and looked at me, so I told her she was getting one additional whack. More tears and loud sobbing. It was my turn in the checkout line. The cashier glared at me reproachfully, then proceeded to ignore the abusive mommy and speak only to the poor little girl with the puppy dog eyes. "Are you sad, Sweetheart?" she asked. "You're much too pretty to be sad." (Evidently, only ugly people deserve to be sad.) She continued her sympathetic comments to Karis until she handed me the receipt, at which point the tone of her "Have a nice day" indicated she would much rather have said, "Fall off a cliff."

We headed to the van, where Karis got her spanking (I'm always prepared!). I can't say things have been that much better since, but to quote Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With the Wind, "Tomorrow is another day!" (There's another, more well-known quote from the same book/movie that I would like to repeat when they whine to me about how unfair their lives are, but I haven't . . . yet.)

I love how in the midst of the most trying circumstances, God brings little bits of humor to provide bright spots that keep me going. After one spanking this morning, Zekers came out to the living room and gave the following apology: "Karis, I'm sorry for smacking you in the face with the gecko. Will you forgive me? Rachel, I'm sorry for hitting you on the head with Mommy's kneeling pad. Will you forgive me?" And they just went on like it was nothing out of the ordinary to be smacked around by a stuffed gecko or a kneeling pad. . . . and I suppose it wasn't. (The "kneeling pad" was given to everyone who attended the True Woman conference last fall, and I have to confess, although I DO pray, I have never used the pad. The kiddos recently discovered it and love to play with it - mostly as a weapon, apparently.)

Also, there is nothing funnier than hearing Kari Bou, who pronounces her R's like W's, try to say the word "rubber." Since she repeats herself about 15 times, even after her comment is acknowledged, I was in a helpless puddle of laughter after the third time she said, "Mommy, I think this (kneeling) pad is made of rubber," and laughed harder each time she said it, which, of course, inspired her to say it even more.

So here's to laughter, and here's hoping that tomorrow is another (very different) day!