Mornin’ Glory: Two Weeks Later

Attempting to smooth out the wrinkles of our morning routine has been a s-l-o-w process.  Our bedtime routine has gotten relatively easier but the mornings, well, they just might kill me. 

I am still having a five minute conversation with myself over what I can do (or rather, not do) to just lie there for a little while longer.  I’ve tried to convince my husband to make me coffee in the morning or get the kids dressed for me but that is not going to happen.  At first, I thought it was because he secretly did not love me anymore and knew this was the way to let me know.  I soon realized though, that he leaves the house in a bleary eyed state of semi-consciousness and is not capable of remembering to clothe or feed anyone but himself.  So I end up playing the horrible mom card on myself to get out of the bed.  And this morning, I noticed that something had actually changed.  Though I was dog tired (and I even fell asleep before 10pm last night), I was not grumpy.  What a feat!  I felt sure a morning of small miracles was about to unfold and all my work would be rewarded!  (I hear the Chariots of Fire theme, don’t you?)

Then Avery woke up. 

That sentence gets to stand alone so you can absorb the gravity of it.  Because you see, that girl is possessed.  If your kids acted better than usual this morning, you can thank Avery.  She vacuumed up all the ill tempered grouchiness in a 100 mile radius, I swear.  She shouted at me from the bed that she didn’t want to go to school.  She stomped to her shoes, put them on and stomped in them to the kitchen.  I asked her what she needed for her lunch and she promptly threw herself on the floor and began sobbing.  I asked her what was wrong and she answered me in a scream that I think only mothers and dogs can hear.  She got a spanking for that one.  Then she stomped out on the front porch and slammed the front door so hard behind us that the windows shook.

I was fit to be tied, I was so mad at that little girl.  Then we get in the car and as I am shutting my door, my little miracle happened.  She handed Alden our morning devotional book. 

Even though she frowned with her arms crossed over her chest in a huff and did not speak a word the entire ride to school, she listened to the devotional.  I realized that all my hard work at making our mornings smoother was not about time management or getting enough sleep, it was about starting them with comfort and assurance that I cannot provide.  I hope that they both will keep that in their heart.  That so many mornings they will wake up and not want to face what’s ahead but through devotion, they can find peace and promises.

Peace is not the absence of affliction, but the presence of God.  ~Author Unknown