A foolish mom at midnight

Yes I know, I should be sleeping. Being up this late and trying to wake up at 6:30 in the morning (see previous post) is not a good combination. But sometimes you risk those things for the sheer pleasure of enjoying a quiet sleeping household. My mother always said silence is golden. Now I understand.
So how are my early mornings going? Well, honestly, some are earlier than others. And sometimes it's only 5 minutes before one or both little people wake up. But other times I have enjoyed a good solid half hour or so of quiet, reading, journaling and prayer! But whether 5 minutes or 30, those moments have been invaluable. Not only because I feel so refreshed, but because some of what I gain in those minutes stays with me all throughout the day. For some reason starting the day out like that makes me think about God and prayer more often during the day...especially during times when I feel like my patience it about to explode.

I also started reading The Power of a Praying Wife by Stormie Omartian. I've been intending to read it for about a year now and I finally got it from the library...wow! Every wife needs to read it! It has been so good. There are 30 short chapters about 30 different areas of a husband's life to pray over, so I try to read one chapter every morning and pray about that throughout the day. The most amazing thing, I think, is that although I'm praying for my husband, I feel myself being changed! What a difference it makes to be more intentional about speaking to God...and trying harder to listen to Him. Today a dear friend gave me the book for my birthday, so I'm so excited to be able to underline and write things in it tomorrow morning!

But before you get any ideas of how perfect and peaceful my life must be, let me tell you, it has been a tough week with the kids. They haven't been exceptionally difficult, just constantly on the edge, you know? It's been Mr. Whiny and Miss Crabby for a lot of the week and there are definitely moments when I am sure I cannot possibly be patient one more second! But in between those moments, there are so many other moments that melt my heart. I'm so thankful God gave each mom the ability to perceive her own kids as the cutest ones on the planet...that definitely helps when they are being difficult!

By the way, does anyone have any suggestions or cures for whining?

Ok, definitely bedtime now.