Yesterday was a rough day for parenting. The kids were ALL argumentative, whiny, & disobedient, except for Alyssa... she was actually in a good mood all day.

It came to a head at dinner when James refused to do the dishes again. It was AWFUL. He just wouldn't stop and I was exhausted and yelling. Finally I sent him to bed w/ no dinner at 5:30. I have never ever ever done that.

Around 6 I went by his room and felt prompted to go in despite my still lingering anger. So I opened the door and saw him laying on the bed still. I went to him and sat down. He was really upset and said "I feel like Jesus isn't in my heart anymore because I said and did a lot of bad things." Talk about breaking a Mama's heart. So the fighting of the day turned into a lesson about how Jesus loves us no matter what we do and how He doesn't leave our hearts just because we sin. I explained to him that all those naughty things that he did that day were already punished because Jesus took his punishment by dying on the cross. We prayed together to ask Jesus to forgive BOTH of us (I know I was out of line w/ the yelling and frustration). I hugged him and let him get up for dinner and a movie.

It's amazing how that turned around so unexpectedly into a lesson about Jesus' love and forgiveness.