A Tender Mercy

Lately, I've had a few experiences that have shed light on my children in a way that I don't usually tend to notice. I have my niece Pene to thank for starting it all. About a month ago we attended a swim party and we invited her and Mason to come along. While we were waiting for it to start we played at a nearby park. On our walk over to the pool from the park, McKenna noticed a brown patch of grass in the huge field of green. She quickly noticed that it was a rainbow shaped patch and stopped to gaze at it. In my rush-rush mentality I gave her the pat answer "Great, looks beautiful honey...let's keep walking". Pene, who is much nicer than I am, stopped and chatted with her and took a picture and even posted about it (see here). I felt bad that it took someone else to stop and share a special moment with my daughter. What was just dead grass to me was a beautiful rainbow to McKenna.

Another McKenna story: A few days ago I was out delivering flyers for cub scouts and McKenna came along to help. All along the way she kept picking up rocks and showing me these BEAUTIFUL rocks she was collecting. As my drink holders were getting pretty full, and they were just commen gravel rocks, I was getting irritated and told her to go throw them all away. She protested profusely saying that they were her beautiful rocks and they were all so special. I tried to learn from Pene and told her she could keep them. So what if in another few months I can replace all my grass with the gravel she has collected, they are hers, they are beautiful and she will only be 5 for such a short time. Note to self: Get over it mom....and stop and smell the roses...or rocks...or dead grass.

Lauren's Story: If there is one child I struggle with more than the others, it has to be Lauren. I love her dearly but we just don't get along very well. Why? Because she is JUST LIKE ME. (And, I'm sure this is child my parents wished on me when I was a snot.) Also, I know she is so smart and so beautiful and such a fun girl, I expect more out of her and push her really hard. Anyway, it seems like all we do is fight and I really hate that, so this is where the tender mercy comes in. I think Heavenly Father wanted me to see her in a different light. Saturday, the kids had a primary practice for the program this next week. There was one little girl (Sunbeam) who was crying and quite upset in the first row. She had been crying for about 10 minutes, not loud uncontrollable screaming, just sad, sobbing. I don't know why she was crying, but Lauren came down from the top row and came and talked to her really sweetly and asked her if she would like to come sit up with her. The little girl did and Lauren was able to calm her down. She was so sweet with her. I was so proud of her for being so kind. Lauren later told me that she just couldn't bear seeing her so sad but she was afraid it would be disruptive if she came down to talk to her and comfort her, that was why she waited so long.

Another story about Lauren: Chris helps on McKenna's soccer team at practices and Lauren really likes to help too. At her last practice, after helping the girls for a little while, she saw a friend from her soccer team (who has a little sister on McKenna's team) and decided to go play with her. Here was a conversation they had: (We'll call the friend "C")

C: So what were you doing over there?
L: I was helping my dad with the little girls.
C: Why?
L: I mostly just like to cheer for them and encourage them and get them excited.
C: You know what I would like to do? I'd like to go over there and tease all those girls. I think I will. (She hopped out of the tree, ran over to her little sister who was practicing, stole the ball, scored a goal and pranced around saying, ha ha, yup, I'm the greatest player ever, huh?)

I was so grateful that Lauren was the kind of girl who wanted to help and encourage these girls and not the one stealing and teasing. It made me feel very blessed that somewhere inside all of the drama, her moral compass is pointing in the right direction.

It has been nice to reflect upon these positive things. I really have great kids. Not perfect, but certainly terrific. I love them sooo much! I hope I can be a better mom and dwell on these experiences more and not so much the negative ones.