The VERY BEST Part of Summer Break

Do you know what the VERY BEST part of Summer Break is?

Having 11 weeks off from work?
nope.

Long days packed with family fun?
nope.

Fireflies?
nope, though, those are REALLY GOOD and possibly a very close 2nd.

The VERY BEST part of Summer Break is that I get at least 2-3 hours of solitude in the morning to do whatever I want, some mornings I even get 3 1/2. You see, most mornings, I get up at 5:30 am to so I can walk with my friend, DeAnn (who may not want to be my friend much longer after this morning) before I get my husband up, make his lunch (yes. I'm one of THOSE wives) and kiss and hug him out the door to work by 6:30. So, then begin the Magical Moments of Summer...

What I should be doing is praying and spending time in God's Word.  I should be filling myself up so that I can then fill up my children with the glory that is the Word. More often than not, what I am doing is browsing Pinterest for crafts, recipes, and home decor ideas that I will probably never  make.  Typically, I then read some of my favorite blogs When You Rise, Dreaming Big Dreams, One Good Thing By Jillee and Inspired to Action.  I'll jump onto my Biggest Loser Challenge Team at Spark People and catch up with how my team mates are doing.  I'll call my mom and clean the kitchen (if I didn't get to it the night before) or sit outside and breathe in Summer while taking sips of my Hazelnut flavored coffee. SOMETIMES, I'll even get a load of laundry started or pull a few weeds in the garden.  Most mornings, I am listening to my favorite worship songs from my "Morning Worship" playlist... There are several songs on there,  many of which I read about while reading Maximize Your Mornings, a free ebook written by Kat over at Inspired to Action.  You simply MUST listen to Captivate Us and Invade, both by Watermark. 

YES.  I do realize that I am very blessed
a) I have summers off and
b) I have a couple of hours daily to myself

VERY BLESSED!

Do you know what happened this morning, though, when I first heard my alarm alert me to the start of my day?  I heard strange, rattley noises (like from a rattle) coming from the girls' room.  I lay very still for a few minutes, hoping that they would go away. They didn't. When the snooze alarm sounded, I growled to myself, got up, went to the bathroom to change into my exercise clothes and hissed at my 2 oldest girls to "go back to bed. Do NOT play a game. It is 5:30 IN THE MORNING!!!" Then, do you know what happened? My second born asked if she could, brace yourself, go with me?!? Um, "Heck to the NO." is what came out of my mouth, followed by, "if you think I'm a bad mom when you wake up at 8:30 or 9 in the morning, you just try to get out of bed now."

(I wonder if the'll engrave my Mother of the Year (MOTY) Award with my full given name or just first and last names...)

 I further instructed them back to bed and to sleep. As I walked out of the front door, I heard my son cry, so I harumphed back into the house to grab him up to put into the stroller for the walk (I couldn't just leave him there, crying. Besides, I knew he would be quiet).  By now, I was late...  More growling... (Yes, I am quite aware that all of this grumbling and growling is not very becoming.  DeAnn and I walked our usual 30 minutes, while I "enlightened" her, though not for the first time, on what a truly wonderful Christian mother I am, which brings us back to how grateful I am that she continues to want to be my friend... I have some serious warts!

So, after our walk, the baby (2 1/2, but will always be the "baby") and I walked into the house to hear muffled giggles and rustling blankets.  GREAT!  And...they woke up the "whiny one".  That's about 10 more shades of AWESOME!  What is a mom to do when all FOUR of her kids are up before 6 AM?  I'll tell ya what I wanted to do...I wanted to lock myself in a closet and scream and throw a big temper tantrum.  I believe that I did let a "Seriously, God, how do you expect me to spend time with YOU, now?" slip out. Then I slumped down into the couch with my arms crossed and I saw this...

Do you see it?

There. At the top.

In everything give thanks: for this is the will of Christ Jesus concerning you.

1 Thesalonians 5:18

So, I did and then, an amazing thing happened. My attitude began to shift. I remembered how blessed I am to have all of my children and of the job that God gives me daily to raise them and love them and teach them. I remembered that the quiet moments of the morning are a gift, BUT so are all of the other moments of the day. The moments of yelling and hitting and screaming and yes, even whining are all gifts.  I remembered how close I came to losing one of those gifts and while I am still trying to come to grips with the fact that I have NO quiet time today, I can choose to harumph and grump my way through the day, or I can cherish the gifts that I have and the moments with them.  They are bound to pass out at some point, right?!?

UPDATE:  Same day 10:32 AM (CST) 2 passed out about 8 and slept until 9:30 and the other 2 are asleep now.  Crisis averted...quiet time still came. Sheesh...and you were so worried!