Hi everyone! This is our family picture from our most recent family vacation. For being 97 degrees and a heat index in the triple digits, we look pretty good!

I’ve been doing the First 5 study of Acts this summer. It’s an older study, but I wanted to re-read Acts to prepare for BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) this fall. Anyway, I’ve been struck with the power of the Spirit. That same power that filled those early believers fills me. It’s been helping me to ask in prayer for the power to have self-control in my areas of weakness (eating, exercising, patience).

I have been very short of patience lately. My boys are so loud and they seem to not move unless I yell. I don’t like it. I don’t want to spend my summer days (or any other days) shouting. In the past I’ve yelled because I’ve wanted to be in control and I’ve tried to deal with that impulse. But this feels different, like a new layer of anger to deal with. I think the source of this anger is feeling like my words and opinions are not valued or respected. I find myself asking, “Am I talking out loud?” or “Am I invisible?” I’m still working on this, but I know that something needs to change.

We are still pretty successfully using our sticker/stamp charts. As we get closer to the end of summer we are starting to decide what rewards will be given for the hard work. I am very glad that I have decided to teach the older boys some simple chores. They are learning to clean the bathroom sinks which is such a big help to me. And my oldest son’s personal goal was to learn to make his own breakfast. That is also a big help. I have enjoyed watching them take on new responsibilities.

Ummm… There are so many. I think the one that stung the most came last summer when I had all 4 boys at Aldi with me. The boys weren’t exactly misbehaving, but they were being loud! We were looking at new lunch boxes and a plastic organizer for lunches to be packed in. I wanted to make sure that they could open each compartment on their own. So I was showing them how to open and close each one. How to put the water bottle in just right, and how to zip the lunch bag around the box. Anyway, they were excited, and we were definitely taking our half of the aisle out of the middle. We had already been in another shopper’s way once and we were clearly in his way again (because we were in everyone’s way). But he had no sympathy for this mother of 4 young boys. Then my youngest said something rude about him (not exactly to him, but we were being quite loud, remember). He said something like “Why is that man so fat?” Well this man heard it and he yelled at me that I should put my children in a zoo. That I was raising rude and disrespectful children. And that I should teach my children better manners, and that he deserved an apology from my 3 year old. He scared my boys so much that they flocked to me. I didn’t know what to say. It all happened so fast. I knew that when my youngest said that, I was thinking I was going to have him say he was sorry. But then when this man yelled at me I was so startled. I couldn’t think straight. And did my little boy really need to apologize to a 60 something man who was yelling at a mother in a grocery store? Anyway, the man went around the corner to the next row. We stayed where we were and all cried a little. It’s not like the store was that big, and I’m sure everyone heard him yelling at us. I was so embarrassed. Obviously that man was hurting and angry, but I did not handle the situation well. Later I wished I had spoken back to him and defended my boys better. But he hit a nerve in me. I always worry that my gaggle of boys is “too much” for people. And we are overwhelming. I do not have a wall flower in my bunch. But on the other hand, we are who we are. Sigh.

We have been spending a lot of time at the pool! Everyone is happy at the pool.

Thanks Virginia. This blog helps me to process life as a mom. Motherhood is not an easy job, but I love that my job is made easier by other moms around me experiencing the same struggles. I know that God is with us as we continue to make progress in each aspect of struggle and strength that He has built into our beings.