Lollipop

I had this idea in my mind that I could complete our home study in a couple weeks, literally.  I had such great intentions.  But then suddenly, we're in the middle of our home study and I'm finding myself irritated with the process of obtaining the paperwork.  Not that the paperwork is difficult, actually, it is rather easy.  No, my unreasonable expectations set me up for a major disappointment and so I am irritated because I'm impatient about the amount of time this gathering of paperwork realistically takes.  Ugh.

God's timing...

That whole idea rattles around in my brain.  Countless times I've attempted to soothe the fellow impatient adoptive parent, reminding them about God's timing... why did they not scream at me in frustration?  I don't want to hear anything about God's timing... not right now!

In my sinful flesh, I feel like a whining child who cannot get her way.  I feel like I can't scream loud enough to my Father... so I begin stomping my feet and acting out my impatience with a tantrum.  Of course, I'm not doing this in a literal matter but I want to.  I think it might make me feel better.

So here I am, in my sinful state, unedited and not hiding behind my computer screen.  This is me.  In my heart I'm throwing my tantrum and begging for the pace to pick up.  And just like any good parent, my Father offered another focus.  He has given me resources and motivation that I have struggled to find until just recently, in order to obtain a wishful goal. 

I'll keep this in my parenting bag of tricks for the right time.

I've done this countless times when parenting my children.  Organic lollipops work well to defuse a forming tantrum.  It changes their focus from the negative causing the tantrum to a positive, tasty lollipop.

What is my lollipop?

The Pittsburgh half marathon in May.  Yeah.  You read that correctly.