House of sickness

Our little house of curls has been a house of sickness this week. We've been doing a lot of resting, puzzle making, sleeping, coloring, and movie watching. Needless to say, curly girlies (mommy too) are a little stir crazy from spending so many hours trapped inside the house. So, today we ventured out to Learning Express (on Roswell Road in Buckhead) because we had a few birthday presents to purchase and because I thought it would be fun for the girls to play in their newly renovated store. Boy was I wrong! It was a complete disaster and I have never been so embarrassed by the behavior of my curly girlies.

Youngest curly girlie kept pulling everything off the shelves and when I told her no, she would scream. I mean, seriously screaming crying. But, I was determined to get a gift so I ignored her crying and all the stares from other MOMS. She then found a stroller to push, which she liked for about 2 minutes, but once she decided that she didn't like it anymore, she began throwing it, multiple times. Then another little girl picked up the stroller and of course, youngest girlie just started screaming even louder. Meanwhile, oldest curly girlie was shoving whatever she could find into a rolling backpack and then kept pulling it all around the store, placing random toys in random spots. She then found the silly bands display and when I told her she could not have any, she slung it around, making a big mess. She then began crying and pitching a fit.

With tears beginning to fall from my own eyes, I quietly picked up both girls and walked out of the store, without even making a purchase. Once we got buckled in the car, I took a deep breath, prayed and cried a few tears. I reminded myself that this was yet another "trial" that the Lord was using to make me more like Him. I am slowly growing in patience and self-control and it is because I am relying on His strength to carry me through tough moments like today. He alone gives me the ability to speak gently to my children, to love them unconditionally, even when they are screaming uncontrollably, and to forgive them for their own wrongdoings. I can't do this on my own but "I can do all things through Him who gives me strength" (Philippians 4:13).

So, after the drama, we went home, had a quick lunch and both curly girlies actually took a nap at the same time. Thank you Lord for the quiet moments and thank you for my precious curly girlies!!

I've been wanting to share this nursery rhyme - what a perfect ending to this post:

"There was a little girl and she had a little curl,

right in the middle of her forehead.

When she was good, she was very, very good.

And when she was bad, she was horrid!"