Show a Little Kindness

Last week when I sat down to write my blog post I was feeling overwhelmed by my new church calling and feeling like I had been just about as busy as possible with it over the proceeding week.  Turns out I was wrong and it could get busier.  This week it did.  I can't tell you how many times this week Jeremy said to me "this is like a second job" and the truth of the matter is I spent a lot more time on my church job this week than on my actual job.  Despite how it seems, I don't want to use this week's blog to complain again.  Instead, I want to talk about some amazing, unexpected blessings that have come during this crazy time.

This week I have noticed some changes in my relationships with my family, my kids in particular, and changes in their relationships with each other and the outside world.  How is it that when I am stretched thinner than ever before that I have more patience with my children?  Why, when I was home by myself with the kids (Jeremy was at dinner with his old boss) and I made a dinner that everyone always complains about, did no one complain?  Why has Merrick decided that he really wants to help C.C. throughout the day AND why has C.C. decided she will let him rather than insisting that only mommy can help her?  I know the reason these blessing have come, but I am still overwhelmed by gratitude for them.

I have been particularly touch this week by the kindness Merrick has shown and I wanted to write down two stories of that kindness so they are not forgotten.

Every month at school Merrick has a reading chart to complete.  He has to read in 20 minute blocks throughout the month to fill the chart and once it is full he gets a prize.  In February it took us to the very last day to get it done (good thing it was a leap year).  I sent Merrick to school that morning with his completed chart so he could collect his prize.  At pick up, he came running up to Carrigan with something in his hand.  I was a Sophie the First (her current favorite) figurine.  He handed it to her and told her he got it for her and it took me a second to realize that he had turned in his chart and the prize that he chose to get for his month worth of work was a prize for his sister.  I am still so touched by this that I can hardly put it into words.

The other story took place just a couple of days later.  Merrick had been telling me for a day or two that there was going to get a new kids in his class on Thursday that just moved here.  On Thursday morning we were all going through our usual routine.  I was in my room getting ready and when I came out I found Merrick at the desk in the family room busily cutting away at some paper.  I asked him what he was doing and he told me that he wanted to make a present for the new kid on his first day so he was making him a snowflake (because "it is still winter so it is still appropriate").  Again I was amazed at his ability to look outside himself and be so concerned with this new kid, making sure he felt welcome on his first day.

So my takeaway from this week is kindness and love.  I am grateful that somehow, despite the busy week, those traits were still able to be the focus.

This picture is a few months old, but I am pretty sure it never made it onto here and to me it exemplifies the love and kindness I was talking about as Merrick and C.C. snuggled and fell asleep together in her bed.