As I shared yesterday we are trying to focus on relationships and character development. While I intend to make this a perpetual focus, Tuesdays and Wednesdays will be days of more concentrated focus. I picked these days because these are our most normal days. Let’s not even start on Mondays and Thursdays and Fridays we tend to be preparing for a busy weekend.

Honestly things have not gone swimmingly these 2 days but that’s the good thing about changing a lifestyle, it takes time so if you fail one day just say, “Oh well” and try a little harder the next day.

One area that I particularly struggle with is patience. Oh I have gotten much better but it is still and issue. I notice I tend to get more frustrated the more rushed I feel. With four children, a budding farm business, writing work and homeschooling to fit in well that can be pretty often. So I either need to change my schedule or attitude or both.

I discovered a new blog that has been such a blessing to show me areas I can focus on my attitude. (Note the rest of this post will contain Bliblical content). Doorposts of Your Home recently wrote about how to develop patience towards others. It takes patience to develop patience but we are working on it. Honestly mommy is still really working on it so I can share it with the children.

We started as recommended with the Bible verse Proverbs 17:9, “Whoever covers an offense seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates close friends.”  We read it and talked about it, I am still working on memorizing it with the children but we get the jist.

Then I had the children make their own hearts.

We used construction paper and I had some clear contact paper I used to laminate them. When an “offense” happens in the house the children are supposed to come to me. We will write the offense on a piece of paper and use our hearts to cover them. Of course you also must monitor the offenses to make sure there isn’t something more serious going on but you know how most things go, “Mom she’s looking at me,” type stuff.

Even though I didn’t make a heart this is a wonderful exercise for mommy too. I have found that my temper often can be tempered by thoughts of love for my children. It’s a great exercise.