It's Been a Month!

     Merry Christmas! It's been a whole month of focusing on my biggest pet peeve...my yelling. I've learned a lot and I'm going to continue to study, forgive, surrender and pray concerning my yelling, but I'm really encouraged at the progress. I hope that you feel like you've made progress in the area you've been focusing on.
     I feel like I've had many chances to practice surrendering control over to God in the past few days...almost like a final exam at the end of a course. My two youngest got sick with a viral infection this past Thursday that has left them whiny, achy, and very needy. My poor hubby has also been sick for more than two days. My second eldest started showing symptoms last night of coming down with the same infection...which leaves just two of us healthy for the holidays. I'm so grateful not to be sick; however, it was disappointing not to go as a family to the church musical or go to the family Christmas Eve gathering. Fortunately,  I haven't blown up with my family (last night, I was even complimented on my attitude). A few times I have gotten irritated though. My mom is staying with us over the holidays...and we have had some friendly debates over how to bake her famous bread recipe (that she's been making for the past 30 years, and I've been making for the past 3 weeks--clearly she has a tad more experience). We quibble in the kitchen over little things, but usually end up laughing...like when she admitted that she measured "Amish" cups (or as most would say a "generous" cup) of milk for my yogurt instead of the standard. I questioned her about this when my usual container nearly overflowed with the yogurt mixture. She giggled when I asked her if she'd measured exactly 5 cups and said she'd wondered if I'd notice that she hadn't. I did.
     Sometimes it's hard to slow down and give up my plans when my family is sick...the last time I went through this was a month ago at Thanksgiving.  It went much better this time, and I think that all the prayer and blogging about this area has helped.
     I've had the wonderful privilege of reading a great new book by Jill Savage (coming February 4, 2013) called "No More Perfect Moms".  I definitely qualify as an imperfect mom...I didn't even get out Christmas cards this year. You will be hearing lots more about it in the next few months as it really ties in nicely with many of the struggles I've been going through. If you are curious about the book, here is the website that has more info on it, including a sign-up for a challenge beginning Jan.1st:

http://www.hearts-at-home.org/index.php/nmpm-home

Thanks for hanging out with me and joining me on my own adventure!