Broken Patience

We had a huge rainstorm yesterday. Apparently, the roof in my office didn't like it so well. I had a huge leak in my office. The nice guy came and fixed it. Thanks, Nice Guy.

These pictures remind me of a nice little "family chat" Josh and I had with Kaydon and Colton on Tuesday night. Josh went downstairs after everyone was in bed to talk to Colton about things Colton had stolen from a drawer in our room. (we have had repeated problems with Colton stealing) Suddenly, I hear full-on yelling. It was Kaydon and Josh. I went downstairs - half asleep - to see what was happening. Kaydon was fired up. He was scowling, laying in bed - folding his arms tightly, and mad as heck. Josh was now talking to Colton about stealing, having wrappers all over their room, and having his dirty clothes covering the floor. First, I asked Kaydon what the problem was. He said, "I hate Dad." I said, "awesome!" Josh looked at him with the most heart-broken look I've ever seen on his face. "Why do you hate me, Kaydon?" "Because you yell all the time!!!" Josh: "Why do I yell, Kaydon?" "Because you like to!" I interjected. I don't remember everything that I said in that room on that night, but I felt strongly that I was being guided. The four of us were in that bedroom for quite some time, and Jackson had come out of his room and was standing out in the hallway. Josh stood against the dresser, speaking now and then. Colton and Kaydon were on their beds. There were tears. What I do remember saying was this: "We are a family. It's perfectly fine for us to day, 'I hate when Dad yells,' or 'I hate when Mom isn't patient,' or 'I hate that I don't get enough time with you guys,' but it is NEVER okay to say, "I hate dad," or "I hate Mom." I asked Kaydon how he would have felt if Josh would have said, "I hate you Kaydon." Kaydon cried more and said that that would have been the worst feeling.

Satan is working on families in every single way possible. Our "blended" family is especially fun for him. We don't use the word blended, or combined, or step. We are a family of seven. Period. Sometimes we use words we shouldn't like, "shut up," "stupid," and "hate." Those words are small, little ways that Satan pokes holes in our family. Every Monday, we have Family Home Evening. They last no more than 30 minutes. That is a way that we try to fortify our family unit so that holes are tougher to make. Sometimes, there is name calling in our home, or fighting over games, or fighting over food, or fighting over toys. Those fights poke holes in our family. Every night at dinner, we pray as a family. Those prayers, no matter how long or short, help to protect our family from holes. Sometimes, our family doesn't communicate as well as we should. Sometimes, we raise our voices. Sometimes, we forget to tell each other important details. Sometimes, we give each other the silent treatment. Sometimes, we take our frustrations, fears, anxieties, and anger out on each other because that seems to be the best place to do it. But, there are also times when our kids come in and ask us to pray with them, they ask for a blessing, they ask for one-on-one time with Dad, they pour their hearts out to us, they want to watch a silly show on TV with us in our room, they want to go to the gas station with Dad to get a soda...

We have leaks in our family all the time. They can turn into huge floods if we don't take care of them right away. We are doing our best every day. Some days are a whole lot better than others. Some days we have to say, "Tomorrow is a new day. We'll try again." Some days are great. Regardless, we all have leaks in our families. I am so grateful for the Gospel, which teaches us to patch them, teaches us to fortify so that we can prevent leaks, and teaches us of the Atonement so that we can try again. I love my family!