Getting up early/Quiet Time

Heather, thank you for that link. It was burden-lifting. I do pray and meditate on God’s Word throughout the day, but I have found that something in me, be it my personality or some quirk, craves time to myself every day. When my children were babies (and they’re 17 months apart, so we were doing the baby thing for a LONG time), my “alone time” was during naps. It was glorious! They still take naps, almost everyday, but I have found that time to be better spent on my own chores…cleaning, cooking, emptying the dishwasher, etc. That leaves me mornings or evenings. I just choose mornings for myself because I’d rather spend my evenings totally devoted to my family, and then once kids are in bed, to my husband.

Christie, thank you also for your post. It, too, was very burden-lifting. I am a schedule person too. And our schedule used to be my master. I think our family missed out on so many things because our days had to be “just so”, and I wouldn’t allow any flexibility. Now that the schedule works for me, instead of me working for the schedule, I feel totally free. I don’t feel guilty if the kids miss a nap or two this week, because they’ll either go to bed earlier or they’ll catch up next week. I don’t feel guilty if we had to eat dinner at 5:00 one evening and then 7:30 another. I know those are exceptions to the rules, and not the rules. As far as swimming at other times goes, our pools don’t open until 1:00 p.m. So the only time to swim is during nap time!

Also, it is a good reminder that even as individual families are different, each family goes through seasons of its own. We may have several weeks or even months of complete consistency. Then, for whatever reason, things will change, and we get thrown off. That’s life! I can’t control what will happen to us anymore than I can control the weather. The only options I have are to fight it and try to have a false sense of control over everything or embrace that season of life and hold on for the ride. I’m not a very fun person to be around when I’m fighting against life. ha!

I won’t be in this season of having to teach my children to rise at a certain time forever. But while I’m in it, I’m going to try to make the best of it. Thank you all for helping me work through the guilt of having time to myself. I really appreciate it, and thanks to several of you, I have realized that I’m actually teaching my dd something valuable.

,

Lindsey

P.S. I think I may have worded one thing incorrectly. My children do not actually “demand breakfast”. But they do wake up awfully hungry, and we do not keep cereal in our home for breakfast as I cook a large breakfast every morning. At 5 and 6 years old, I’m not ready to teach my kids to scramble eggs or make bacon for safety reasons and because I enjoy making breakfast for them each day. I don’t want them to have to wait for breakfast for an hour or more just because I’m trying to pray. I’d rather they continue sleeping and ward off that hunger.

Sure, Christie! I’d love to see you again! And don’t think I’m Supermom or anything because of the breakfast. We had Hamburger Helper for dinner tonight. hahaha