Re-Grouping

It is on a day like today, a 60 degree, beautiful, taste-of-spring, Virginia kind of day that the G clan needed some re-grouping. You know, the kind of cleaning-up-shop sort of re-grouping.

We had just enjoyed some wonderful time with good friends of ours from church. They are the family with whom we are adventuring through a year of at-home catechesis or FIRE, as it is nationally known. We've grown much closer to this family in the last two years-- the husband is former navy, the wife is a former PT, and their three children range in ages from 4 to 8. They are darling. We are having a great time re-inventing the curriculum for our little clan--our group's children are YEARS younger than the other families participating in their own FIRE circles. Whenever all the circles get together, we are on the edge of our seats, hoping all of our young ones will behave! It has been great fun...

Needless to say, today was FIRE lesson #7 and we hosted. GG took us through an informative and fun look at the altar components and the Consecration. Each child had the chance to serve as priest and altar server after GG explained the roles. It was a great lesson and I was so proud of my GG. But can you guess who I was less than proud of?

My two oldest, M and T. Their behavior stunk. Aside from when they were actively participating, they acted silly, whined, and showed very little reverence and respect for the lesson and the people involved. I would pull them aside and correct them as we went along, not wanting to remove them completely from the lesson (which would probably have given them exactly what they wanted!) On the contrary, our friend's children were behaving impeccably. They were setting an impressive standard, which made me even more mortified by my boys' behavior. Iron sharpening iron, I tell you. We needed some improving and PRONTO!

Afterward, GG and I sat our crew down and rehashed the family rules. We talked about tightening up in the days to come. About how the bar would be raised significantly. There would be no second chances. There would be an opportunity to do right OR there would be a consequence. The boys understood--"Yes ma'am. Yes sir." Enough said.

Thank you very much. I'll let you know how it goes.

The afternoon continued beautifully. The boys played pirates indoors and out. The latter part of the afternoon they helped with yard work in the backyard. How glorious it was to breathe the fresh air!! It was so good for all of us. Perhaps it helped everyone get out their ya-ya's! Boy do we need to do that from time to time.

So there you have it--just keepin' it real with a glimpse of a day in the life of G-Ville. We don't claim to be perfect, just forgiven. Praise God for that.

God bless,