My day yesterday started perfectly!  I've been quite irritable with the kids lately and had decided to take yesterday "off" from housework to spend time rediscovering the joy of motherhood.  Inspired by my friend, Kolleen, I had set aside a whole "unplanned" day at my disposal to play with my kids, watch TV with them, read to them,. . . whatever.

So, our morning began with a donut breakfast with Daddy.  While waiting for the baby to wake, we made and played with play dough.

Then, after feeding the baby, we got ready and went for a little nature hike around the pond -- feeding ducks, getting scared by geese, picking up feathers and sticks and leaves and moss.

We even had an mini-picnic lunch and met some new friends.

When we returned, hot and worn-out, from our hike we had some banana cupcakes together; and then it was off to naps.

This is where things began to fell apart.  Gordon, in spite of rising an hour early that morning and hiking over 2 miles, refused to take a nap.  In fact, he decided to do as much noise-making as possible (I think in an attempt to wake Teeny up, but I don't want to be accusatory).

When he did manage to wake Teeny up, the two went down to the playroom while I putzed around on the computer.  When I went down to tell them I was going to feed the baby, guess what greeted me!  "We painted, mom."  Yes, Gordon had broken into the laundry room where our craft stuff is currently stored, got out two bottles of acrylic paint (very large bottles), squirted them on the laundry room floor, mixed them together to make a lovely shade of rose, and proceded to handpring the laundry room wall and paint the doors and walls of the playroom!  Oh, yes, and it seems he was also trying to dye the carpets to match as he walked through his palette on the laundry room floor and tracked it all over the playroom.

Needless to say I was livid.  This rage quickly turned to defeat.  "Even when I have a good day, it can't be a 'good day'," I thought to myself.  How can I even think about homeschooling when my kids can get my feathers up so easily and when I can't even keep a close enough eye on them to keep entire rooms from changing colors?

Fortunately, the devotion I read this morning encouraged me to get out from under that defeat, self-pity, depression. . . and start looking at my problems -- anger, irritability, children with a too-artistic flair -- from "far above all" with Christ.  Instead of looking at these frustrations with my human, selfish eyes, I need to look at them with the wise and loving eyes of Christ.  It is then that I will be given wisdom and every fruit needed to make it through. . .WITH FLYING COLORS!