'Tis the season...

This week has held a plethora of emotions, events & pride for me. I'm sure we can all relate to the events thing at this time of year, so I'll stick with the pride & emotions stuff!

Pride & emotions story #1:
About a month ago, Sarah brought home a CD of the 3rd grade Christmas musical. She began listening to it, learning the songs & speaking parts for the whole play, just getting a feel for the show. They had auditions at school & the music teacher allowed the kids to select parts they were interested in, but she also had them read for parts that she thought would be a good fit for them. Sarah told me that she auditioned for a couple of parts, but she really didn't want to get a big part. (The music teacher had her read a few of them.)

She has the most tender heart & the most soft-spirited personality of all my kids. She certainly warms up to people once she gets to know them, but overall, she is very shy & mild-mannered. She doesn't like to be in the spotlight and doesn't like to disappoint others. When she was younger, she would literally cry in embarassment if she walked into the room & you acknowledged her too loudly. She's such a people-pleaser and a self-inflicted perfectionist. On the day that she climbed into the van after school & started crying right off the bat, I knew what had happened. She got the lead role, Mrs. Claus! She was mortified that she'd mess up, forget a line, not do a good job....or worse, stage fright! She *just knew* that she'd get on stage & completely panic & she was terrified that she'd be standing at the microphone & cry in front of the whole crowd. As her mother, I wanted to run to the school & tell the music teacher that she'd have to pick someone else for the part. But I stopped myself. I KNEW that if she could pull it off, having this part would do WONDERS for her self confidence. So before we got upset & called the school, she & I sat down with the script & ran through it. Interestingly enough, on the day she was assigned her part, she ALREADY knew every single one of her lines!! Realizing that, she relaxed a little & found new things to panic about, like whether or not she would look silly in a granny costume? ha ha! I spent a ton of time praying for her nerves, for her courage, for her faith in the teachers & the work she'd put into this play. And ya know what?

SHE ROCKED THE HOUSE TUESDAY NIGHT!!!!!!!!!

Not only did she NOT forget a single line in the play, she did just fine on her short solo & she smiled & looked like she was enjoying it!!! She got a ton of compliments after the play, too!! I'm sure you can imagine how proud we were! Seeing HER smile after the play was worth all the tears & worrying & prayers in advance. Here are a few shots of our little superstar.

This is the costume she wore. My mom made it.

At the microphone for one of her speaking parts.



After the play, with her buddy Madison.

Santa had to be convinced to "go green" in the play. During the final song, they switched costumes. Very cute!

Pride & emotions story #2:
Tonight, the reality that my children are about to get out of school for the holidays hit like a ton of bricks. While I really do enjoy being with my kiddos, they don't always enjoy being with each other. Primarily the oldest & middle child. The term "Cats & Dogs" most readily jumps to my lips. We are working a lot on kindness & watching our tongues lately....or rather, I'm TRYING to get them to work on kindness & holding their tongues. There are days, though, when I wonder if they hear anything I say. Needless to say, it makes the prospect of 2 weeks at home together a little less appealing with tempers are high & attitudes are quickly gaining new levels of yucky-ness!

I needed to run to McDonald's tonight to buy two $5 gift cards for Samuel & Sarah to give at their class parties tomorrow. Savannah is capable of staying home alone for a few minutes (McDonald's is less than 5 minutes from my house), so I let her hang out while I went. Sarah decided she wanted to stay home with her since they were watching something on TV. I had NO intention of leaving Savannah & Samuel under the same roof without some supervision, so I took Samuel with me. Having JUST broken up a giant argument between the two of them, I figured it was good to give them both some cooling off time as well. Samuel grunted & groaned & stomped on his way to the van. As we were getting into the van, he & I started talking. The conversation went something like this.

Me: Samuel, you need to stop stomping your feet & acting ugly. This bad attitude needs to GO.
Samuel: (gruffly) Then tell Savannah to stop being mean to me.
Me: She is inside the house & you are out here. Whatever SHE is doing does not effect your behavior out HERE. You make the choice to be a snot out here. So, drop the attitude.
Samuel: grumble, grumble
Me: Sam, I don't like this stinky boy you've been lately. Could you please drop the bad attitude & bring back a nice one? I don't want the stinky boy as my son.
Samuel: softer grumblings
Me: Ahem...Yes M'am?
Samuel: Yes M'am.
(We sat in silence for a while. I heard him sniffling a few times, so I knew he was thinking & crying quietly. After a little while, he said...)
Samuel: Why does the Bible say to treat other people the way you want to be treated?
Me: Because those are God's words & it's how we're supposed to act.
Samuel: But Savannah doesn't do that!
Me: You're right. Sometimes she doesn't. But you can't control Savannah. You have to control YOUR behavior & actions. If you want her to treat you nicely, you need to treat her nicely.
Samuel: You need to tell HER that.
Me: Samuel, first of all you need to be careful how you talk to me. And second, I *DID* tell her that. She & I had this very conversation last night. That was between she & I and it's none of your business. If she chooses to act rudely, that is between she & I. YOU need to act nice regardless of her behavior.
Samuel: But I'm just treating her the way she's treating me.
Me: Yeah, I have seen that. But one of you has to be the "big kid" & make the choice to treat the other nicely even if they're not being nice.
Samuel: She's mean to me though!
Me: Yes...but sometimes she's just responding to the way you treat her. If you treat her kindly, she will treat you kindly.
(Things got quiet again.......we went into McD's & got the 2 cards. While we were there, I decided to surprise him with a drink. He went over & filled his cup with Sprite. He doesn't usually drink Sprite, but I assumed he was just in the mood for something different.)
Me: Sprite?
Samuel: Yes. Can you hand me 2 straws?
Me: Two?
Samuel: yes.
(So I handed him two. He banged one on the counter & put it into his cup & took a drink, then banged the other one out of its wrapper & put it into the cup, too.)
Me: Samuel, why do you need 2 straws?
Samuel: Savannah likes Sprite, too.

I got down on my knees in McDonald's to be eye-level with him & gave him a big hug and told him how proud I was that he was making an effort to do something nice for her, right in the middle of a time when he was feeling mad & hurt by her. He just smiled. And while I sat at the table & waited when he went to the bathroom, I thanked God for showing me that he really did "get it" tonight. Tomorrow might be a whole different story, but tonight, he GOT IT.