Practice What You Preach

On Sunday, Keith had to work all day which means us girls were left to getting to our 9am church on our own. Getting anywhere before 11am is a serious problem for me. My children wake up anywhere between 8-10am, usually the latter when we have somewhere to go. It had been a late night for Keith and I on Saturday and Brynnie was pretty cranky. So, I allowed them, and myself, to very lazily sleep in. However, I had a lesson to teach during the third hour of church, so I had to make it at some point.

Side note: Not that I care what you think about me, but skipping church is definitely not the norm for us...just so you know...but that not that I care what you think...but it's not...

After breakfast and dressing, I was still bustling around the house, changing last minute poopy diapers, the story of my 'trying to leave the house' life, and filling sippy cups just one more time. I took Brynlee out to put her into her carseat and Hannah followed me into the garage. Hannah has a habit of climbing in on Brynlee's side, squeezing herself on her hands and knees behind Bryn's seat to get to her seat as I'm repeatedly telling her not to, and in the process usually snagging her hair on something and ripping out anything cute that I've done with it. I didn't have time to re-do her hair, so I continued to tell her no, over and over and over as Brynlee was struggling against me trying to strap her in. So, finally I took ahold of Hannah's arm helped her back out of the car, firmly telling her if she would just wait, I'd help her get in on her side. I turned back to help Bryn and very quietly and sweetly Hannah said, "Be nice." The concern in her voice stopped me in my tracks. Very quickly it didn't matter to me anymore that we needed to be anywhere. It also made me smile. How many times have I told her to "ask nicely" or to "be nice to Bryn" or to "speak nicely to mommy"? She listens so intently to everything I say even though it may not seem like it at the time. I bent down to face her and asked, "Is mommy not being very nice?" Her response, "Yeah, BE NICE MOMMY!" said with a little more force. I took her in my arms and said I was sorry to which she replied that she was sorry. We got in the car and made our way to church.

Some people say that God will strike them down with a bolt of lightening if they do or say something wrong. Sunday he struck me down with the sweetest, quietest, most loving little voice. Hannah definitely has her typical two year old moments, but for the most part that little girl amazes me with her ability to comprehend, reason and especially to love.

I borrowed this quote from my cousins blog. I love it and we could all probably use a little reminder now and then.

Thank you, Hannah, for reminding mommy that she needs to speak nicely.

I love you precious girl!