Whatever

We had a freak snowstorm today. We made it all winter without any snow days. And today, the beginning of the 4th week in April we had one. I was super happy to hang out here in the house and not step outside at all. Thus, only Bug went out to play in the snow. Probably not a great parenting moment, but definitely not my worst of the day either. It's still snowing, so I'll probably get a do over tomorrow, if I so choose.




"Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you." Philippians 4:8-9

In many situations I really feel like saying "whatever".  Not the whatever that Paul is speaking of in Philippians, but the whatever of the modern culture that says, I don't care - do what you want.  That is not the attitude I should be projecting in front of my daughters.  I'm afraid that I did a lot of "whatever-ing" today.  The second full day of hubby's TDY and Bug had her first snow day of the year, so the 2 day weekend turned into a 3 day weekend and I was on edge.  I was snippy and raised my voice at both girls - like Baby Pie has any idea why momma was yelling at her.  Yes, I yelled at Baby Pie and the look of confusion and pain that I got from her hurts in my heart.  Yet, it made me feel guilty, which added to the snippiness and resulted in even more raised voices and misunderstanding.  Looking back, yes, I should have just walked away for 2 minutes, closed my eyes, said a prayer, looked for an appropriate quote and calmed and centered myself.  I've seen the quote that children are not an inconvenience - unfortunately today - I admit - I felt that my girls were. 

That takes me back to Paul's "whatever".  True.  Honorable. Just. Pure. Pleasing. Commendable. Excellent.  Worthy of Praise.  What better words to describe what it means to be a mother.  Or maybe I should say what better words to describe the goals of being a good mother.  To be a mother that my girls will remember, not for always yelling, but for being there, playing, supporting and listening.  A mother that provides consistency.  Thankfully - we have forgiveness and tomorrow.  I know Bug has forgiven me - we talked and seem to be on the same page.  Baby Pie is another story.  I can only assume that she's either forgiven me or forgotten because she was her happy normal self before bed.  At a few days short of 18 months, she has yet to say mama. I am dada.  She has words for a few object and our cat and dog.  But she knows what we're saying and can follow pretty complex directions.  Yes, that was off topic. 

The other thing I've done these last few days was a lot of stippling on Aria's quilt.  A lot of stippling.  Let me see.  Quilting night on Thursday was 3 hours - ok, make that 2 1/2 giving time for set up and tear down.  Then 2 hours on Saturday, 2 hours on Sunday and 3 hours today.  So that's 7 1/2 hours stippling.  Phew.  I love how it looks.  Love.  Love.  Love.  I need to decide if I'm going to do a traditional binding or a quicker machine sewn binding.  Then I need to trim the sides and bind it.  I also need to work on getting Pipers quilt done.

So - whatever - Paul's "whatever" - ". . .think about these things. Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you." Philippians 4:8-9