I don't have a lot of tolerance for grumbling and complaining. I tend to tune out the kids when complaining begins. Unfortunately, I have fallen into the habit of grumbling and complaining. There are a lot of excuses that I could use to try and justify my crankiness, but my bad habit needs to change.
When my children are over-tired, stressed, anxious or bothered by a serious problem they complain more. So do I. Everyone will be going to bed a little earlier than normal over the next few weeks. We've gotten into some poor sleep habits. My 7 year old is frequently awake at 11:00 at night because the older (adult) children are talking loudly. My plan is for everyone to be in bed or in their own rooms by 10. It's not uncommon for me to be awake at 4 am. I don't usually fall back to sleep until 6:30. The homeschooled children and I will be walking/hiking every morning for 30-45 minutes. The exercise, fresh air and sunshine will be beneficial for everyone and will probably help my sleep pattern.
The renovations on the other house will be scaled back until January. It stresses me whenever I go over there to work. All I see is another project that needs my attention. We have made a ton of progress so far, but now there is many things to do inside. Mike has started ripping out drywall, so several rooms are at the studs. We need to do some rewiring before putting in the insulation and rehanging the drywall. It will be good to take a few weeks off and enjoy preparing for Christmas and all the December birthdays that we will be celebrating soon.
Our church situation has been very troubled since our new pastor arrived. He has made many changes in the church, some of which are not in accordance with Scripture. I'm ashamed to admit that I've been grumbling and complaining about the church situation. We have been trying to improve the church problem, but complaining doesn't change anything and is certainly not helpful to the pastor. Mike has spoken with the pastor, the elders, and the district pastor. One problem was addressed which made Mike and I hopeful that some of the other major problems could be addressed. Around Thanksgiving, the pastor told Mike that he didn't want to talk about our concerns until sometime late in January. The elders don't see a problem with what is happening. Mike and I have been researching our concerns and our position is consistent with what the synod states. Unfortunately, the pastor doesn't agree with the synod's statements, so we have reached an impasse. After Christmas, we will begin searching for a church. This has been a very difficult decision, but one that we believe is correct for us. It's very sad to be leaving this congregation. The members are kind, caring people, but I don't want to constantly tell my children that certain things are contrary to what the Bible says.
Now that I've figured out ways to relieve some of the things that cause fatigue and stress, I'm going to focus on all of the wonderful things in my life. There will be a lot of tongue biting in the next few weeks, but hopefully I'll be able to complain less frequently and set a better example to my kids. No one likes to be around a grumbler.
When my children are over-tired, stressed, anxious or bothered by a serious problem they complain more. So do I. Everyone will be going to bed a little earlier than normal over the next few weeks. We've gotten into some poor sleep habits. My 7 year old is frequently awake at 11:00 at night because the older (adult) children are talking loudly. My plan is for everyone to be in bed or in their own rooms by 10. It's not uncommon for me to be awake at 4 am. I don't usually fall back to sleep until 6:30. The homeschooled children and I will be walking/hiking every morning for 30-45 minutes. The exercise, fresh air and sunshine will be beneficial for everyone and will probably help my sleep pattern.
The renovations on the other house will be scaled back until January. It stresses me whenever I go over there to work. All I see is another project that needs my attention. We have made a ton of progress so far, but now there is many things to do inside. Mike has started ripping out drywall, so several rooms are at the studs. We need to do some rewiring before putting in the insulation and rehanging the drywall. It will be good to take a few weeks off and enjoy preparing for Christmas and all the December birthdays that we will be celebrating soon.
Our church situation has been very troubled since our new pastor arrived. He has made many changes in the church, some of which are not in accordance with Scripture. I'm ashamed to admit that I've been grumbling and complaining about the church situation. We have been trying to improve the church problem, but complaining doesn't change anything and is certainly not helpful to the pastor. Mike has spoken with the pastor, the elders, and the district pastor. One problem was addressed which made Mike and I hopeful that some of the other major problems could be addressed. Around Thanksgiving, the pastor told Mike that he didn't want to talk about our concerns until sometime late in January. The elders don't see a problem with what is happening. Mike and I have been researching our concerns and our position is consistent with what the synod states. Unfortunately, the pastor doesn't agree with the synod's statements, so we have reached an impasse. After Christmas, we will begin searching for a church. This has been a very difficult decision, but one that we believe is correct for us. It's very sad to be leaving this congregation. The members are kind, caring people, but I don't want to constantly tell my children that certain things are contrary to what the Bible says.
Now that I've figured out ways to relieve some of the things that cause fatigue and stress, I'm going to focus on all of the wonderful things in my life. There will be a lot of tongue biting in the next few weeks, but hopefully I'll be able to complain less frequently and set a better example to my kids. No one likes to be around a grumbler.
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