Antidote for contention, and a little too much optimism

Thank heavens for game time during family home evening. Yesterday from the opening song on, family members took turns being contentious--criticizing, annoying, making snide comments. As soon as we got into a good game of Apples to Apples, however, laughter and silliness smoothed over all the former irritation. It makes a case for skipping the lesson and songs. Speaking of songs, I'd like to register a complaint wherever such things are registered that my children are so averse to singing. In my family of origin, that was one of the funnest parts of FHE--my kids seem to think that I invented singing just to torture them.

Matt and I are running to keep up with the six kids we already have out in the world, as well as the jobs we do to keep them fed and sheltered. Every now and again, I get a feeling of panic. "How are we going to do this?" I asked Matt the other day. "How will it be possible to juggle another ball with all these other balls in the air?" He didn't seem worried. "We'll just teach the balls correct principles, and they'll juggle themselves." Eh . . .