School starts in 3 weeks.

When Paul Ivan was a baby, I was always puzzled by the testimonies in sacrament meeting that would mention how much a mom or dad learned from their children. I can hear them now, "I'm so grateful for my children. They teach me so much." Of course the "so much" was never elaborated on, and I was left to wonder. Then I had a couple more children and as they got older I understood a little more what I was supposed to be learning from my kids. Of course, I've learned things like unconditional love (although my hubby has been a pretty good teacher of that) and selfless sacrifice (right Tonya--getting up four times in one night even though you have to be at work at 8am.). At times I've learned about pure faith and humble obedience. Mostly, I think I've learned about the nature of Heavenly Father and what kind of relationship He wants to have with me.

Recently I've been learning more lessons, too. My children have taught me how annoying and downright unnecessary fighting is. I've learned that selfishness or greed is behind most of the arguments you have with people. I've learned that when you have a disagreement with someone or if someone says something you don't like, you should keep it to yourself and not blab it to the nearest authority figure. I've learned exactly what the phrase "easily offended" means. And I've learned that if somebody doesn't take the high road, the problem will probably not get resolved. This summer will go down as the summer I came to understand the key to having peace: live the Golden Rule. Too bad I wasted last night's FHE lesson on manners and courtesy. Now I have to wait another week until I have a captive audience. I've got to come up with a clever lesson....