A Wage Earned

My week of nannying for my friends is up and I tell you that I am just plain worn out. I feel like a pair of jeans on the fourth day, begging to be put into the laundry. Three kids is hard on a woman, granted I know most families grow into three kids and don't just jump into it. However growing into it is still hard. I have been watching these two children for a couple of years and seeing them grow up is so cute, but wow they are energetic and inquisitive. So I did everything fun that I could think of with them, got up everyday fed Shiloh, then made breakfast for the kids. Got them dressed and out the door for school. We did homework at night, dinner, baths, story time and bedtime. The later I looked forward to with great anticipation. Somehow though my nights were always interrupted. Whether the kids came in my room, Shiloh woke up in the middle of the night talking ( like she does at home, but in her own room. We just let her go and she puts herself back to sleep) or if the cat got into the kids room and made them start screaming for me to come and get it, my nights never were a consecutive 8 hours of sleep. This lead to a break down in my Sermon on the Mt. type response and I see now that prayer is the only way that my children will survive childhood and that I will stay out of a mental hospital. I did good for a couple of days, not loosing my cool. But after four night of little sleep coupled with 10,000 questions a day and the circumstances of life, I was ready to lock all the kids in their room for a moment of piece. However I didn't and God gave me ample grace. I can say that I loved last week and already miss the little guys. They are sweet and I feel that God gives us children for many purposes and one being to have a more pure heart before Him.

Children embody innocents and they love without regard. They say what they see and they forget the good with the bad so quick. I love observing the reasoning ( or lack of) that children have. It is the same as us sometimes when we are doing something that we know isn't leading us to God more, but taking us away. When we are in compromise yet try to talk God into understanding. It is foolish yet we cannot see past it because it feels right and that is what we want. I learned a tremendous amount about myself and parenting last week.It was an all around great week and now I am catching up on sleep and enjoying the gift of an only daughter while it last. :-)