Morning Ritual
This morning, my house looks like this:
{insert photo of four crazy kids giggling and squealing as they bounce exuberantly in the pillow fort they have constructed by raiding the entire house for pillows, large and small--I took said photo, but it refused to upload}
This morning, I look like this:
And I'll tell you a secret: this is what I look like every morning around this time. Plus or minus a certain level of vivacity (two of the four kids terrorizing my home today were dropped off at 530 this morning).
The truth is that I have a new morning ritual. After feeding the kids breakfast and kicking off the day, I sit at the kitchen table and drink my coffee and finish the half of my breakfast I didn't get to eat because I was pouring juice and wiping up yogurt and breaking up fights. I drink said coffee and eat said breakfast and allow myself to just sit and read blogs that encourage my heart and my creativity while the kids rampage with a little less supervision than usual.
This makes me sound like that stay at home mom. I also watch soap operas all day while lounging in my boudoir and eating bonbons. LIES!
I only let myself do this until the coffee is gone, and since I never make a full pot, this doesn't last as long as you'd think it would. But I cannot tell you the blessing of sanity that this has poured into my life. I can browse Ann Voskamp and the Nester and Emily Freeman and actually drink coffee that's hot, and then when I'm finished, the dishes get put in the dishwasher, the first load of laundry gets shifted to the dryer, and I am a better mommy to my kids.
Besides, I'm convinced that this falls under the umbrella of God giving good gifts to those He loves.
Anyway, today I told myself that since I was going to have two extra kids under my umbrella of parenting that I would be a better mom and forego my new ritual, but then I realized that taking twenty minutes to put caffeine in my system was probably the best thing I could do in that moment. Besides, two more kids means twice the fun for my kids and half the reading distractions.
And now my coffee is gone.
{insert photo of four crazy kids giggling and squealing as they bounce exuberantly in the pillow fort they have constructed by raiding the entire house for pillows, large and small--I took said photo, but it refused to upload}
This morning, I look like this:
And I'll tell you a secret: this is what I look like every morning around this time. Plus or minus a certain level of vivacity (two of the four kids terrorizing my home today were dropped off at 530 this morning).
The truth is that I have a new morning ritual. After feeding the kids breakfast and kicking off the day, I sit at the kitchen table and drink my coffee and finish the half of my breakfast I didn't get to eat because I was pouring juice and wiping up yogurt and breaking up fights. I drink said coffee and eat said breakfast and allow myself to just sit and read blogs that encourage my heart and my creativity while the kids rampage with a little less supervision than usual.
This makes me sound like that stay at home mom. I also watch soap operas all day while lounging in my boudoir and eating bonbons. LIES!
I only let myself do this until the coffee is gone, and since I never make a full pot, this doesn't last as long as you'd think it would. But I cannot tell you the blessing of sanity that this has poured into my life. I can browse Ann Voskamp and the Nester and Emily Freeman and actually drink coffee that's hot, and then when I'm finished, the dishes get put in the dishwasher, the first load of laundry gets shifted to the dryer, and I am a better mommy to my kids.
Besides, I'm convinced that this falls under the umbrella of God giving good gifts to those He loves.
Anyway, today I told myself that since I was going to have two extra kids under my umbrella of parenting that I would be a better mom and forego my new ritual, but then I realized that taking twenty minutes to put caffeine in my system was probably the best thing I could do in that moment. Besides, two more kids means twice the fun for my kids and half the reading distractions.
And now my coffee is gone.
