J. Stauffer

<<I'm a high strung, happiness sucker outerer>>

But anyone who can come up with this phrase has tremendous potential!!!

Breathe easy and relax. I've been exactly where you are and I know how
crummy you feel. I have 5 kids and a tremendous number of animals. I have
a husband who used to want to control everything and seemed angry at us all
the time because somebody left the bikes out in the rain AGAIN, somebody
colored on the wall AGAIN, somebody broke a plate AGAIN, the dog pooped in
the garage AGAIN. I felt like I had this standard that we needed to live up
to and I kept trying to make the kids live up to it. I wanted the Cleavers
and I kept ending up with the Ozbournes. We were all unhappy.

So I decided to make some changes.....

I told dh to get over it. We have 5 kids, the house will not STAY clean,
things start to break down as soon as they are built because it is how the
world works, don't be mad at us because we are just being who we are. Get
over it.

Then I went back to a lesson from Gandhi that is the most amazing, yet
simple thing.......He said to be the change you want to see in the world.

If I want my home to be calmer, then I must be calmer. If I take my "angst"
out of our home, it is calmer.

If I want people in my family to be nicer to each other then I have to be
nicer. If I take my meanness out of our home, then the family is being
nicer than they were with my meanness.

And the amazing thing is the ripple effect. The kids are calmer, nicer. Dh
has been amazing. I think it was a wakeup call for him as well.

Things aren't perfect here. But they are much, much calmer and nicer.

Julie S.

J. Stauffer

<<I am just overcome with sadness and anger>>

Me too.

Julie S.

Lee-Ann and Robert Storer

Thanks Julie,

it helps to see that someone has been where I am now and changed themselves.

I'm slowly getting my head together - coming to this list helps heaps.

Lee-Ann in Australia
aka Dances With Goats
aka Stands With a Mop



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