(no hurry) september

As September started, our calendar was already looking crazy! And now, looking back at it we had at least one thing every single day! 

Something that I had been thinking about was the word "hurry", I know that when I am saying hurry, or other words or phrases like it it's because I am feeling stressed. And I also know that I don't want my children feeling hurried through their childhoods. So with these thoughts in mind I decided to challenge myself to not say the word hurry for the month of September... I wasn't perfect, I said hurry and other things like it 7 times, I kept a tally in my phone, but I can say that this challenge really helped us, especially me, in our daily comings and goings. I made sure to plan enough time so that my children would be able to do things the way they wanted and on their own. When we were out and I was tempted to hurry them along it made me step back and really think about why I felt that way, and pretty much everytime it was because I wanted to do things on my timetable, which I know isn't necessarily the right one. I had so many extra sweet moments with them because I wasn't trying to rush, and just let myself see things more from their sweet perspectives.

One day we were having a hard day; so much was going on, everyone was tired and a little bit cranky, I was doing laundry and was listening to an interview on the MormonChannel "keeping your sanity in a home of little ones" trying to gain a little bit more patience. I was walking up the stairs with a basket of laundry and a big plastic airplane falls onto my head and cut my ear. In the interview a woman was just talking about the physical demands of parenting young children... I'm not going to lie I cried a little bit, it hurt! but I also had to laugh, I was glad I was listening to that interview so that I could find the humor in it... 

Thinking back on my little challenge I know that when I'm feeling stressed about the things to be done, and feel like I'm about to lose myself to my emotions, it is because I am trying to hurry MYSELF too much...which then can spill over to my children. when I sense that feeling creeping in, I know that I have the power to choose how I respond, and when I remember that, I also know that my reactions teach my children how to react. how else can I become the patient person and mother I'm striving to be?when those icky parts of ourselves are being pulled out, we have the chance to learn from them (and learn and learn and learn) until we master them. because when those (hard, crazy, frustrating, emotional) moments have passed and I CHOSE to feel patience and love, our home is a place of peace and love. I know that my relationships with my husband and children are worth slowing down for.