Ugh, it has definitely been a "Monday".  Trust me when I say this post is more for my own therapy than to help anyone out in cyber-space.  So, you can either read on or feel free to jump over to another site, my feelings will not be hurt. It started out as a great Monday, pumpkin spice coffee and warm donut in hand.  Then we started school......  We should have just gone back to bed. Of course we would have a bad day after I gave a glowing report to some friends over the weekend.  We were catching up and they were asking all sorts of questions about home schooling.  I gave a great report because overall we are loving it and home schooling seems to fit our family really well.  Does that ever happen to you?  The second you give a great report to someone everything seems to fall apart.  It is just like when my children were babies.  Someone would ask, "Are they sleeping through the night?" I would reply, "Oh, he/she is a great sleeper."  WRONG - THE CHILD WOULD NOT SLEEP FOR THE NEXT 37 NIGHTS STRAIGHT.   Let's take the subject of potty training.  Innocent person asks, "How is the potty training going?"  I would reply, "Oh, it is fantastic.  We have gone 2 weeks without any accidents."   WRONG - AT THAT VERY MOMENT MY CHILD WOULD HAVE A HUGE ACCIDENT ALL OVER THE FLOOR AND MY FRIEND'S CHILD WOULD WALK THROUGH IT WITH BARE FEET.  Yep, this is how things go down in our home.  Call it karma, call it Murphy's Law but this is how things always happen in our house.  It always seems that no matter what my response is, the opposite happens.  Sometimes I cringe when people ask for a status report because I know the second I open my mouth things will go downhill. Well, I gave the glowing report over the weekend so we were bond to have a crappy day.  Boy, was it crappy! C-R-A-P-P-Y!  My kids were not behaving and my behavior was even worse.  My patience were non existent and I couldn't seem to find grace or mercy for any of us.  I even told them at one point not to follow the example I was giving on behavior!  Nice... great mommy moment. Here is the deal, moms have bad days too (preaching to myself, here).  I tend to hold myself to this ridiculous standard.  When I called my husband (who so patiently listened) I asked him, "Why can't I be like Michelle Dugger and answer my children with a sweet whisper?"  At this point he let out a small laugh and said, "Honey, God did not make you like Michelle Dugger.  You weren't born to whisper." Even after close to ten years of parenting I forget to give myself grace.  I MUST remind myself not to let today determine tomorrow (way easier said than done).  I MUST remind myself that the rant and temper tantrum that I entertained my children with during lunch does not determine the type of mom I really am.  It was a doozy, I could have sold tickets to that show!  Not my proudest moment that is for sure.  I MUST remind myself that God gave these children to me because He trusts me with their needs.  I often wonder why He trusts me so much!  Seriously, God.  I MUST remind myself to allow myself the same amount of grace that I give to everyone else.  Yep, that last one pretty much ties in up in a nut shell.  GRACE  - GIVE MYSELF GRACE. Like I said at the beginning, this post was a therapy session for myself but if you gained anything from reading it that makes my heart warm.  :) Here's to tomorrow.  One the bright side, at least it is not today!