Fighting and Whining

I get frustrated, no, irrate at my children's fighting and whining. I mean, it drives me NUTS! I sometimes wonder how many times a day I am referee/consoler. It always begins with an obnoxious-sounding "Mooooooom!"

They whine about how the others are mistreating them. They whine when they don't get their way. They whine when anything doesn't go the way they planned. They fight about everything..."she looked at me the wrong way; she hit me; she said my picture wasn't pretty; she ate the last popsicle; she's smacking; she tricked me"...you name it, they fight and whine about it!

Some days, by the end of the day, I cannot WAIT until they go to bed. (Today happens to be one of those days!) I love their precious sleeping, non-talking, non-whining, non-fighting little faces. I love their still, angelic-looking little mouths. I love that they don't hit one another when they are asleep. I love that they don't tattle on each other when they're sleeping. I love that their little voices are absolutely silent for 8-to-10 hours. I LOVE when they sleep.

I wonder if God sometimes loves when I sleep...