People Are Annoying

God love em, people are annoying.  It has recently occurred to me that the old saying, "God doesn't give what you want but what you need" applies to people as well.  

I have always wondered why my babies were up through the night and others weren't, why my husband never changed a nappy and others did (okay, he'd argue that he changed a few), why my sister died at 17 yrs of age and my parents divorced when I was only 12, why my other sister and I don't even talk anymore, why other families seem so much happier etc. etc. etc.  I think everyone wonders these things though their circumstances are different.  I have learned something for each of these people and from each situation and these things have made me into the person I am today.

Lately I have been wondering why I can't seem to like the one guy down the dock who is friendly enough but just full of himself in my opinion.  He has an overbearing personality, is abrupt and openly tells my kids to disobey me - the latest was to shoot seagulls with their paintball guns after I had told him they are not allowed.

It hit me then that I am just supposed to learn from everyone!  God deliberately puts these people in our lives for us to learn to love.  I mean learn to love because sometimes, lets face it, it is work!  Some people are really hard to even like let alone love.   I  have a lot of trouble not judging others.  Sure I don't gossip about them but my heart is filled with contempt towards some people sometimes and it ain't pretty.  Regular confession is helping me greatly. God is working on me and teaching me so much.  Like, what right do I have really.  I am a very annoying person myself I am sure to some people - though I can't imagine who. I try not to offend but probably have more times than I know about.  How do we love them or begin to even like them?  I think the answer is praying for them.  When we pray for them, or at least in my experience, we begin to see them as Christ does, as a beautiful person made in God's image.  Oh it isn't a one off prayer but sometimes many prayers before we start to feel anything for a person we have trouble liking.

Mother Theresa said once that we cannot help or love all of the people in the world, only the one's God puts in our path.

I have nothing really to offer a reader on the internet from my own musings but I can share what I don't know which is an awful lot!

Falling to pieces , by fractions. 

This morning we woke up late - never good on a Monday morning since that is the 1 day of the week we have the most school work to cover. We also forgot morning prayers together. I said mine quickly in my head as I made breakfast and then jumped into Math which was just stupid on my behalf. 

We are struggling with 6th grade math. Fractions, oh fractions. How we loathe fractions. We spent the entire morning on fractions alone! There were tears, arguments and one broken wipe board, which I should add, was broken by me, not Abi. Apparently if you point (poke) really hard at it, it just breaks. Who knew?! 

Aaron, the peacekeeper, piped up shortly after the board broke and reminded us that we hadn't done our morning prayers! Yes! That's it, that is what we need to do I thought! Then Abi informed me that she had, "done hers". Hmmm, if she had done them anything like she had done her fractions I thought, that's not good. Aaron and I said a couple of prayers together at that point but, because we were late starting our day, we didn't do our usual time of the daily reading of the scripture....another mistake and Abi didn't join us for morning prayers together since she'd, "done hers"- perhaps she should have. 

The day seemed to go on forever. We battled and we struggled and we plodded on through Spelling, Composition, Lit, Greek History, English & Latin but didn't finish until very late. 

I got some time with Justin for lunch.  Justin has offered to help Abi with her Math! It won't be easy because of his schedule but as and when he can, he will, even if that is evenings. Whew, I am so glad that is settled. 

I also got a bit more prayer time on my own. I am now quite certain that God doesn't want us to be miserable over fractions. He certainly cannot want for us to forgo prayers & scripture for fractions.  In our hurry, somehow, we deemed math more important today!  It's much more important to have a happy home, happy kids and happy school day than stressing the stupid fractions. 


Lessons learned... 

1.  DON'T forget morning prayers 
2.  IF we forget morning prayers, everyone stops what they are doing and does them together! 
3. Always ask God for help on fractions!!! 
4. Thank God for his providence in a hubby who can do math:) 
5. Thank God we have scrap paper for when wipe boards    break!

"Goodbye to the Meat"

Lent has arrived! The children and I went to mass on Ash Wednesday and got our ashes to kick off the season. Father Ignatius told us that "carnival" comes from the Latin, carne vale - or goodbye to the meat. Carnival now has come to mean any manner of party. Also, Mardi Gras, or "Fat Tuesday" (before Ash Wednesday) is the day to load up on sweets and meats while you can. In the UK they have "Shrove Tuesday" which I have no idea about the term Shrove but it might have something to do with pancakes as they eat a lot of pancakes on that day every year.


So, the kids thought about what to give up and Aaron decided he'd like to give up showers! Well obviously that would get a bit smelly around the boat and also it wouldn't be much of a sacrifice as he doesn't like baths anyway. After a bit of prayer he decided to give up sugar-free chocs - which may not seem that great at first but when you consider he doesn't have regular sweeties ever anymore because of sugar problems AND sugar free chocs are his only treats (bless him)- it's a big sacrifice. Abigail decided to give up her Kindle. Which she only uses at the weekend but usually from the moment she wakes on a Saturday morn until bedtime Sunday night you can find her in her cabin, on her Kindle, playing various dress up and make-up apps much to my chagrin.

Justin is joining us this year and given up eating out at restaurants. Hmmm, he just said a couple of weeks ago that eating out was costing us a lot of tom! BUT he added that whatever we save by not eating out, he will donate to the Church on Easter Sunday when he will be attending with us! WOW now that is good!

I have given up my much loved, but unhealthy habit, of diet coke and movie night popcorn/snacks. I could very easily have given up shaving my legs too but Justin would have objected I think. I have given up on a bit of vanity though. No make-up except face powder. So I may look scarier to the world but I just smile more to make up for it.

 Abstaining from meat is being observed by all of us for Ash Wednesday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday as well as all the Fridays of Lent. Not that the rest of em have much choice as I am the cook. Fasting can only be observed by myself as the kids are too young and Justin got a doctor's note. Fasting was a toughy because I still had to prepare and serve breaky, lunch, dinner and snacks all the day on Wednesday! I am weak so I said many a prayer each time I trudged to the galley to make yet another tasty snack for someone else.  The prayers worked because I have no will power normally. God is good. Honestly, I caught my reflection in the sliding door and was amazed that I didn't look as hollow as I felt. Still it was good for me and God saw me through it and I feel we can tackle the next 6 weeks together.

I actually love giving up something for Lent. Jesus died for our sins and no matter what we offer to give up this Lent, puny as it may be, He knows we do it out of love and I know He loves us for it.