Busy busy

We are alive and well, just very busy. The last two months of the school year are always crazy for me. I have a ton of paperwork, a full caseload of students and haven't wanted to spend the time and energy to blog. Samuel has 13 days left of kindergarten! Last week was a tough one for him and I suspect the next few will be too. But you never now with the little guy. He can suprise us all and finish with a bang.

This afternoon I can honestly admit I was angrier than I have ever been at him. George was at the race track so I was alone with the kids. We had been busy painting pots and planting flowers. We had come inside and I was upstairs putting clothes away. I heard some racket downstairs and I called down to see what they were doing. Samuel yelled that Sophia had made a huge mess. I walked down to see the floor covered in goldfish. I am talking a gallon size bucket of goldfish covering the entire living room floor. Sophia was crying because she knew how mad I was. Samuel told me that Sophia had dumped the whole thing out and proceeded to smash them all.
I guess I didn't think to doubt his word. So, I took her to the couch, spanked her, and put her in her room. At that point, I wasn't that mad. Just annoyed that I had to clean up the huge mess.

After a few minutes, I went upstairs to get Sophia. She then told me that "Gung gung(Samuel) did it." I didn't believe her at first. I went downstairs to confront Samuel. He admitted, with a lot of hesitation, that it had been him. I flew off the handle. He not only lied, he sat there while I punished his sister for what he had done. I was shaking in anger. He was shaking in fear. Looking back, I should have walked away from the situation for a few minutes. But I didn't.

These situations are tough. I was so livid that he had done that. Samuel spent some time in his room. He came down, crying, and handed his favorite light to Sophia. He wanted her to have his favorite thing. I guess a retribution for what he had done. He said he had gone upstairs and prayed.

Of course, there are so many parallels to this story. I put them both in my lap and hugged them close. I told Samuel that he was forgiven, forgiven by me, Sophia and God. I then retold the story of Jesus dying for our sins. The innocent taking the punishment of the world. And we don't have to do anything but accept him. That's it.