Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Mitten Strings for God - Chapter 2



Chapter 2 from Mitten Strings for God is Morning.


Morning is a short chapter talking on .... Mornings!! :-)


One of my favorite quotes - "Someday our boys will decide that they have grown too old to climb into bed with Mom and Dad for cuddles before the work of the day begins."


I only have one left who still climbs in bed with us in the morning. I savor every moment of it!!! Terry is the only child who isn't school age and doesn't have the pressures of waking early at a certain time. He almost always gets up to see the twins off to school (7:00) and most days wakes to see his daddy off (6:00). After the joy of telling everyone good bye (he tells Bobby to "run like the wind" when he hears the bus rolling down our street) and asking his daddy to honk the horn when he leaves, he will cuddle back up in our bed and go back to sleep for a couple of hours. It is so precious to me that he loves his family enough to rise on his own and see them for those special moments in the mornings!!!


One of the things we have been working on the past year as a family is getting more sleep. I don't know of anything better to help mornings start on a good note. When school started back we realized that the little boys needed much more sleep. They put in a long hard day in first grade. We are usually beginning to lay them down at 7:00. This is very opposite my normal nature. It has been many a night, especially in the summers that we didn't sit down for dinner until 8 or 8:30. So, the first thing we did was move dinner time up. We try and be eating by 6:00 and that puts us on a good track. They usually go straight from dinner to preparing for bed. After the little children were on a good track, we realized that the older children weren't getting enough sleep either. We begin laying them down at 8:00. They still drag that out some nights an hour or more (brushing teeth, laying out clothes for tomorrow, writing in journals, reading), but at least they are headed the right direction. Just this week, Artie imposed a new bedtime for us - 9:00!! By nature I am a night owl. That doesn't play out well to begin your day at 5 or 5:30!!! I am working hard to work with him - the only real problem is when American Idol is on past 9:00!! :-) I am keeping the TV on listening but closing my eyes and trying to get sleepy. When we were first married, I would stay up hours past Artie - that's when I got most of my house work done - then I would sleep in late in the mornings (that's the way my mama always did it - my daddy worked 3rd shift most of my life). Years ago I realized that wasn't the pattern of the Proverb 31 woman - Proverbs 31:15 - She riseth also while it is yet night - and began changing a lifelong habit!! So, I always rise early, but some days still have mornings when the rush is over find myself snuggling up with Terry under the covers and falling back asleep!!!


Usually on first sight, everyone is greeted with Good Morning. Terry is my favorite to hear him come down the stairs and say Good Morning. Brenda and Emily kinda look like me in the morning - their eyes are barely open - just trying to find their way to the bath room for a nice warm bath.


Our Saturday mornings are my favorite. We usually sleep in til 8 or so (on good days it might be 9 or 10!!!!!!) I usually fix a big breakfast for everyone. A big breakfast here is a gallon of milk, 2 dozen eggs, a pound of bacon, a box of grits and a couple of cans of biscuits or a loaf of toast. I'm still loving my Christmas griddle to cook our bacon and eggs on - it's great for fried eggs (which I messed up for years!!).


Sunday mornings are a big more rushed preparing for church. The more work done on Saturdays to prepare, the better the mornings!!

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