A mothers hope springs eternal.

Have you ever had one of those days where everything seems to be going wrong.  Or one of those weeks?  Or worse, one of those months.  Ugh It can seem like nothing we do makes a difference, every little attempt we make to encourage our children to be somewhat civilized, healthy and educated seems to backfire.

And then comes the self doubt, why on earth did God give me kids if I am so terrible at this job!
How am I ever supposed to help them learn to get their work done, if I can't convince myself to go face yet another load of laundry, or one more meal of kids talking with their mouths full, the fingers for utensils and their pants for napkins.

Some days I really don't see how the kids will ever go from snotty, whiny, self absorbed, lazy, spiteful, cranky, children to responsible, civilized, respectful, educated adults.  Or even if they ever will get close!

Of course those days start me thinking 'something must be done'.  After all I am the parent, it is my job to take these adorable, but bratty kids and turn them into great people that folk would love to know.  So I spend some time reading, talking, or maybe even praying, and I find a new idea, I start a new 'chore chart' or I have a 'serious conversation' with one of the kids, and I start to feel that things will get better.

Of course for the most part they don't, at least not very quickly.  I might see a flash of understanding in the kids eyes, I might get a bit less complaints when they don't earn any privileges, but really they are pretty much still kids.  With kid problems.

On the rare occasion when I do see a spark of promise, a math page done quickly with no errors, or a kid remembering to open the door for someone, or carry something, or the most blessed words a mom can hear 'how can I help'?  I get a tiny glimpse that something is going well.

So I haven't given up.  Hope springs eternal, each new idea, new conversation or new habit keeps bringing me new hope that they will one day be able to take care of themselves.

God willing that is, because nothing I do seems to make one bit of difference!