Category: Parenting

Attitude of Gratitude

Published on by Susie @ Pollywog's Place Blog1 Comment

We’ve all heard the saying, ‘If Momma ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy’. This can be so true. As a mom and the keeper of my home I know that my attitude can really set the mood for our home. I try to start my day with a little ‘quiet time’ so that I can get myself in the right state of mind before starting my day. Sometimes things get to me during the day and I have to go to my room, or my closet, and ask God for an attitude adjustment.

I keep a journal where I write down my prayer requests and prayer requests for others, I also go over this list and try to remember to thank God for the work He has already done and the blessings that He has bestowed on me, my family, and my friends. I write down the things I am thankful for, even if it was a small thing. These help me to remember how grateful I am to serve such a wonderful creator.

I have been trying my best to write a thank you to God every morning. Again, this isn’t always something big but it is something that I am truly grateful for. So when my morning or day doesn’t seem to be going just right I can go back and reflect on these things. I find that even the littlest things are a great encouragement to me because they remind me that God is looking out for me in so many ways and that He sees everything that is going on in my life.

When I start my day with a grateful heart it makes the day go so much better. It makes for a happy Momma which will help to make for happy kids. Just think about the last time you woke up grumpy, or didn’t get enough sleep. Maybe one of the kids was sick and slept in your bed kicking you all night long? Maybe you came to the kitchen, that you know was clean before you went to bed, to find it a dirty mess? Maybe your husband left his dirty and horribly stinky socks in the floor right beside the hamper, again?

There are so many ‘maybes’ that could happen and just maybe you would be ‘justified’ in feeling grumpy or agitated. If you let the grumpies or the agitation take over then you are not setting a good mood for your house. Your mood can and will rub off on those around you and before you know it there will be nothing but chaos.

So right now just take a couple of minutes to think of something that God has done for you. This can be hard to do at first because many of us are so accustomed to praying only when we need to ask for things from God. I thank Him for my family, sometimes we have our difficulties but I am so grateful that they are here. I am thankful for the home we have, it may not be the best or fanciest home around but it does its job. I thank Him that He makes sure we are provided for. I thank Him for the friends He has brought to me that have helped to encourage me on my journey. The list can go on and on but these are just examples.

Think about how wonderful it is that He looked down and saw YOU among the many millions of people on this earth and He saw your needs. Whatever it is, however big or small, just remember that He saw it and He thought about YOU and He took care of it. Sure there were probably other people with bigger or more urgent needs but He took the time to take care of YOUR needs at that very moment.

How great is that? How wonderful is the God we serve? He is great and mighty. He is so awesome that He would even look down on us and see our needs. He is so perfect and He only wants the best for each and every one of us.

So if we want to honor Him and show Him glory then we need to start at home. No matter how bad the morning is, no matter how bad the week has been, no matter how hard the year was we need to be grateful. When we choose to have the attitude of gratitude it will show in our lives, it will show in our faces, it will also start to rub off on those around us.

And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful. – Colossians 3:15 

 See also:

Pray In Secret

My War Room

 

Red & White Pasta

Published on by Susie @ Pollywog's Place Blog12 Comments

This recipe came from one of my favorite cookbooks. It is a winner every time I make it although we have made a couple of changes to it.  Continue reading “Red & White Pasta” →

December 21, 2016

Published on by Susie @ Pollywog's Place Blog2 Comments

Well today did not go as planned or as expected. I have been waiting for a melt down from DS14 as he had a doctor appointment last week, a lab appointment this week, and all the excitement from the upcoming holiday. Today was the day.

I did get up and have my morning quiet time with little noise from anyone. As soon as he heard me enter the kitchen it started. There was no warning, no signs, no gradual warm up as we sometimes have. It was full blown yelling at me through his bedroom door. I greeted him as usual and instructed him to go to the bathroom, trying to keep on our normal routine and praying that this would be it.

Unfortunately it was not, it was just the beginning and we went through a mega meltdown, much bigger than I had anticipated. Everyone did the best they could to stay focused on their school work and to continue on with the day as normal. Once he was calmed down he decided to be extra sweet but wanted to stay in his room.

I have learned that these moments,when things are so trying and exhausting, are when we realize the awesome power of love. By not over reacting to his outbursts he is able to feel the love that we all have for him. It helps him to calm down whereas if we reacted by screaming or yelling it would only fuel his frustration and push him further over the edge.

I don’t blame anyone for the way they react because prior to having him in my life I may have reacted in a similar fashion. I may have thought he was just a spoiled brat trying to get his way. Knowing him as I know him I can usually tell when we are building up to a melt down. I also know a lot of the things that can trigger a melt down. I do my best to help him avoid these things or prepare for them in advance but there are times that things pop up and can not be avoided or prepared for.

I know that he does not enjoy them nor does he fully understand them. I can only imagine how it must feel to completely lose control and not understand what is happening. The only way he knows to respond is to yell, scream, hit, kick, or act out in other various manners. So we will just continue to work on learning ways to calm down and more positive ways to express our feelings.

I am extremely thankful that his melt down occurred at home instead of at the doctor’s office, the lab, or anywhere else. It is so much easier to help him through these if he is in familiar surroundings. Not too mention that the tension and comments from strangers do not always help very much in those situations.

When naptime finally arrived I was exhausted and all I could think of was a nap for myself. I knew that there were some things that really needed to get finished though. I enlisted the help of one of Santa’s elves, aka DD17, and started to wrap gifts. Then my friend came by for a visit. Just talking to her helped to reenergize me and lift my spirits. We exchanged gifts and one of the ones she had given me will definitely be one that will give me encouragement in the future.

After wrapping I finished up a couple more things on my To-Do list and began to make dinner. DS3 & DS4 were extremely interested in learning about all the herbs and seasonings that I was using. We also learned about kitchen safety around the hot stove and how it important it is for them not to play with the stove or the oven. I have found that including them in the dinner prep and trying to answer the questions they have makes them more interested in trying new foods and dishes.

The kids also learned how to make your own bread crumbs as Momma could not locate the container of Italian bread crumbs in the cabinet. They asked for mashed potatoes instead of salad too. I did not have the energy to peel the potatoes so we made some instant potatoes to go with dinner. (By adding a little sour cream it makes them almost as good as from scratch.)

While preparing dinner we were serenaded by DS14 who was singing his versions of his favorite Christmas carols. He also made me aware that he was hungry every five minutes or so. At one point he also started an argument with his little brothers about reindeer genealogy… lol… they have been researching reindeer a lot this week. I’m sure someone will need me to ask my friend, Google, for the answer to settle the argument.

The boys had a lot of fun playing with all of the empty shipping boxes from the gifts we had wrapped. They rearranged them again and again to make houses, castles, and a variety of other structures. Not too mention that DS8 helped the little boys hide in the boxes so they could scare Momma a few times. (Did I mention that the empty wrapping paper rolls make great pretend light sabers, too?)

My older two went to town to run a few errands and just came back with some ice cream and chicken gizzards. I love how thoughtful they are! I’m gonna get out some hot sauce, eat a few gizzards, maybe a bit of ice cream, and then snuggle in my warm cozy bed.

So all in all, it was a pretty good day. The melt down was definitely not the highlight of the day but I have to take the good with the bad. I’ll take a melt down at home over a melt down in public any day.

Baked Eggplant

Published on by Susie @ Pollywog's Place Blog4 Comments

I’m always trying to find ways to introduce my kids to different foods, especially vegetables. My kids really love the eggplant when it is fixed this way. It does take a little bit longer than some of my other dishes so I don’t make it very often. Continue reading “Baked Eggplant” →

Love Yourself

Published on by Susie @ Pollywog's Place BlogLeave a comment

This season of the year brings out a lot of different emotions for everyone. You may be waiting in anticipation for Christmas to get here. You may be excited to see your family and maybe a little anxious to see what gifts are waiting for you under the tree. It may be full of despair if you didn’t have the extra money to buy gifts for your loved ones. You may be feeling hopeless or distraught.

Please don’t beat yourself up over things you can’t control. This season is meant to bring us feelings of peace, joy, and love. To fully experience this you must let go of your feelings of guilt. There is not any ‘perfect’ Christmas, ‘perfect’ gift, or ‘perfect’ person at least since that very first Christmas.

Before we can truly experience the full joy and peace of the season we need to love ourselves. There are a million things that can make us feel unloved or unworthy.

Do you feel like you aren’t enough? You just can’t quite get everything pulled together to pull off the perfect holiday celebration. Maybe you don’t have the trendiest clothes? If only you had nicer clothes then you would feel better about yourself. Maybe your hair is in desperate need of a cut or color? If only you had the money to do your hair you would feel prettier. Maybe your friends or family have deserted you? If only you were a better person they wouldn’t have left you feeling so unloved and rejected.

These could all be reasons to feel down in the dumps. But let me tell you something… they are all lies. Lies that are fed to us by the one who is out only to seek and devour, to destroy us. Satan wants us to believe that we are rejects and that we are unworthy of being loved.

God sent his only begotten son to show us His love. God loves you, He loves me, and He loves everyone around us. He wants us to fully experience His love for us. We can’t do that if we refuse to accept it or let go of our guilt or misconceptions that we have.

I want you to know that God loves you unconditionally. He loves you whether you are overweight or underweight. He loves you whether you have an addiction to alcohol, drugs, or anything else. He loves you if you drive a Mercedes or a bucket of rust. He loves you even when it seems that noone else does. He loves you whether you bite your nails to the quick or have the latest manicure.

I want you to know that you can feel at peace this holiday season. You can experience a joy so full that it overflows to those around you. You can experience a love like you’ve never known. Just take it to God and ask Him to help you with your feelings of inadequacies, unworthiness, or whatever it is that you may be feeling. He can and will take your burdens away and He will show you how to let your light shine in the darkest of days.

Merry Christmas!