I'm not a peacemaker...

As I was reading the comments to my last post, a friend of mine reminded me of a quote from Olivia that would be a great intro to this next entry. So...here's the story...

One day, our good friend, Ms. Eileen, stopped by on her way to...grocery shop? (OK...so my memory is really bad these days...) Anyway, Olivia and Emerson were "playing" and Emerson began squealing...not with joy. I could tell he was being exasperated by his big sister. I was in the kitchen so Ms. Eileen, being in close proximity to my darlings and a good friend to their mother, instructed Olivia that she was not keeping the peace with her brother. "Olivia? Are you being a peacemaker?" she asked, to which Olivia replied, "I'm not a peacemaker, I'm a piece of work!"

And lately, that has been her proud stake...that she wants to be, and is, a piece of work. (I'll pause here and give a shout out to Olivia's Daddy who has bestowed her with that charming little term of endearment.) A piece of work that is miles from completion. And as traveling companions of this little work in progress, we have the "privilege" of working instruction and discipline into her heart...hoping, praying, BEGGING for good fruit. As her momma who is home with her all day long (and the days can be VERY long,) I will say that the road has become quite challenging...in fact sometimes I don't think we are walking a path with her at all...we are scaling a rock face that requires the skill of an Everest climber...and we're not even good enough to handle monkey bars!

A couple of Sundays ago, our pastor, Mickey Connelly, spoke on obedience. Lord...good timing...sheesh!

I jotted down reminders to post all over the house to keep me from gong down the slippery slope of anger, impatience and pride during the week, as I anticipated temptation from my sweet three-year-old. After listening to the message, Neal and I were debating whether we needed to talk with someone about our challenges with Olivia. Just when we were about to chalk it up to a discussion to be had later, we saw our faithful friend and care group leader, Ray Mulligan, who has had the wonderful opportunity of seeing Olivia at her best. As we began explaining our quandary, Ray just smiled...and then threw in a comment about how he and Jenny (his wife and my dear friend) were planning on talking with us about Olivia's behavior. Oh no...it's out! People know! And worse...our suspicions have been confirmed. Our precious little daughter is...an angry little sinner in need of MORE training and discipline from wells that were tapped out long before now! I'm internally biting my nails...and smiling and nodding...

Well, it was encouraging in the end. And I am glad that Ray and Jenny care enough about us to talk about these things. (Thanks you two!) So, after talking with Ray, Neal went down to get the little darlings. I met up with them as they were coming up the stairs and greeted Olivia with an enthusiastic "Hey Olivia! How's my sweet girl?" She looked up at me with a look you might give someone who has cut you off in traffic. Oh...the testing is so soon... I knew it was going to be a hard day. And it was...

But we made it through the week, had plenty of friends to encourage us and sympathize with us...lots of applicable advice and ideas. It is going to be a life long adventure! But, Ray said one thing (among many) that really helped my perspective...he said that strong-willed kids are committed kids...they are committed to serving themselves! But, if we can capture her heart and train her in God's ways, that same determination she has in doing things HER way will be the determination she will use in serving God later in life...that is my hope. We'll see what happens...

Until then, I will have stories. And this morning supplied me with yet another one. I had to help her gain control of herself as she was wildly leaping all over the place and being not-so-gentle with her little brother. In an effort to soothe herself after our "discussion" she began to suck on one of her index fingers. I told her "Olivia, stop sucking on you finger. Babies suck on their fingers, not big girls." And she said to me, almost in a valley girl kind of tone, "I AM sucking my finger! What's the big deal anyway?"

I had to leave the room because I couldn't contain the big grin that spread across my face...even if I did hold the laughter in. I guess I should have gone back to talk to her about the back-talking but I didn't. (Sigh...) Back to the drawing board... piece of work still in progress...