patience

what methods work best when searching for patience in a stress-filled environment?? i have asked myself that question all weekend... being home with "chip" and "karat"... we are getting cabin fever! they have entertained themselves in lots of creative ways: role playing as reporters taping "live" from a concert where the cars are lined as far as the eye can see (a.k.a. loading the bathtub with hot wheels), playing crack-the-egg on the trampoline with every ball we own joining them, and playing restaurant upstairs while watching "diary of a wimpy kid" for the umpteenth time! i have worked off and on to get classwork complete so i am not behind this week; and through the yelling and laughter and screaming and arguing, i have come to realize that patience is something i work super hard at keeping in check. deep breathing... counting to ten... praying... finding humor in the situation... i go through all of these techniques and i find myself using them all up before the day is done! but alas, i realize that my children won't be in this stage for long. tomorrow is a new day and they will be a day older. time seems to move along behind our unassuming backs and then we wake up and realize a year has gone by.

my most useful technique in finding patience today?? watching the pictures on my computer screen saver scroll through the years of memories we have made as a family so far... chuckling to myself at the expressions, the laughter, the funny moments... and realizing that those moments captured in time are evidence that we take for granted the here and now. so what did i do? i grabbed the kiddos and hugged them tight and told them i never wanted to forget today. hug 'em and love 'em, my friends.