I know you want to hear one more...

Yes, it's 3:30 a.m. and I'm sleepless because of my large stomach that has to follow along behind every time I roll over (and my b-hicks contractions are keeping me awake), so I thought I'd recount the latest adventure with MO-MO! Feeling MUCH grace from the Holy Spirit two days ago to address my daughter's rebellious 4-year-old heart, I decided to try a different approach to disciplining her disrespect and disobedience. I know most of you have watched Super Nanny so you've probably seen those simply TERRIBLE children who have to be trained by sitting in the "Naughty Chair". Since spankings don't seem to be affecting her heart, I sensed that maybe it was time to try this, hoping that she would get tired of it and that I would not engage in her passionate attempts to buck my authority. Admittedly, one of the ways that God is forming Christ in me is through training ME in consistency, perseverance, and self-control - I took giant steps forward the other night. Earlier in the day, I had tried the time out stool and it only took her about 10-15 minutes to stay on it for 2 minutes without talking or getting off. I was so calm and uninterested as I put her back on every time and told her to obey and sit down. She finally complied. I was feeling pretty good about this situation and we didn't have any more issues that day...until 4:45 p.m. I remember the time well because I know when the battle ENDED (6:30 p.m.)! I told her to get her clothes on to go take my kids up to school for their musical. She didn't do it, would not stay on the stool, my husband was at work, and I was in the middle of doing McKenna's hair and Josiah's make up! So I knew this would be a battle to fight when we returned home. She was cold, though, because of her refusal to obey (she was wearing a ballet outfit - precious little thing). So as I drag her to the car, she's screaming that she's cold and that she FORGOT to put on her clothes. She unbuckles herself and runs back inside. Eventually she returns and screams all the way to school and back, in spite of Isaac's loud commands to "Stop crying Mo MO!" When we get home she will not get out of the car through the door where I'm standing so I lock her in and go inside. I come back out in a couple of minutes and she's very sad I left her there, but still won't get out, so I calmly lock her in again and go back in the house. She FINALLY gets out on my third attempt and I'm thinking that she will now gladly sit on the STOOL because she is exhausted. ha. She runs away from me and I practically have to drag her again to the stool. I told my kind son Luke to take his little brother to their room and play cars or something because this was going to take a while. Praise the Lord, THAT plan worked beautifully. For the next FORTY-FIVE MINUTES I literally WRESTLED my daughter to get her to stay on a stool for 2 minutes!! She was screaming, writhing, kicking and hitting, while screaming things such as "You're not my Mother OR my Father!" "I'm NOT going to obey you!" "I'm going to pee on you if you won't let me go potty!" (I told her to go ahead and affectionately reminisced about Cary and Pee-Wee) When I calmly told her that I was not going to quit, she said, "I'm not quitting EITHER!" I was sitting there praying the whole time that my body and Malachi would make it through this ordeal and for grace to make it as long as I needed to, but good grief, I wasn't sure if my pregnant self could hold out much longer (we were both sweating), so I finally mentioned to Luke as he walked through the room staring, that whenever I was done, he and Isaac could have some ice cream, hoping that maybe if she saw someone else getting something good she'd relent. It was as if I had flipped a switch. She quietly said, "I'm ready to obey now." what in the world?! So she sits on the stool, we pray and recited Eph 6:1-3, and then practice putting on her clothes, which was how this dumb ordeal started in the first place (she was still quietly crying about having to put on her clothes). And yes, after she finished eating some dinner, she did get ice cream. Randy says I lost here. I say I was about to lose because my wimpy arms couldn't hold her anymore and I wasn't about to pick another battle about ice cream at this point!
I am filled with faith - SERIOUSLY! Can you imagine how God is going to use this mighty warrior princess in His kingdom if we all survive?? Pray for us (esp me because I'm much wimpier than my stubborn husband)! This was only a battle in the war for her little heart! There are more coming - in fact, we had another small one in front of Larissa yesterday. The moral of this story? Give grace to those poor parents on Super Nanny!

blessings,
anda