Hi all! I've been honored to share my heart and be a guest blogger at GUTS (girls using their strengths) today!
Check it out here:
http://girlsusingtheirstrengths.com/be-careful-little-mommy-what-you-do/
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
To be a Morning Person
We have recently set up a lamp in our kid's room with an automatic timer. Now, every morning, a blue light alerts my overly eager son when he can get out of bed. It is set at 6:45, and as early as that it, Rafferty prefers 5:00 a.m.
We are still training him to abide to the new wake-up rule (he starts out of bed at 5:00 declaring "I'm awake! To which we reply, "No you're not!") and we are also beginning our own wake-up challenge. I've written before how badly I want to be out of bed early so I can greet my kids with cheer instead of sneer (ha) with hot breakfast and joy, joy, joy. The problem is this: sleep is so very wonderful. I would stay seventeen forever if it meant I could sleep my weekends away. Waking up early is not even a little fun. In fact, I often find it painful to leave my pillow.
Early rising is a challenge as I am so not a morning person. I inherit this from my wonderful mother who is incapable of speaking a single word in the morning before her coffee and shower. But she gets up anyway! And so can I .
I am willing to do this wholly non-Ruthann thing and try to make the most of early mornings. Dustin and I are both hopeful that the early, kidless time (hopefully soon) will allow us opportunity to read, pray, and prepare.
Reading
The Bible, that is. I am usually able to find a few minutes here and there to read a Psalm, or a familiar chapter or passage. But to sit and meditate on the Word of God, allowing His truth to fill me over and over in new ways is what I truly desire. In the early morning, sitting on the bench of our dining room table, I can soak it in, undisturbed.
Prayer
Intentional. Thought out. Early morning prayer draws out deep rooted desires and thoughts. I know prayer is important. Having the sacred time for just prayer is such an amazing gift, and I miss it sorely when I choose not to make that time. Dustin and I are learning the blessing of praying together, before our days get away from us. We had always chosen to pray before bed, but my pillow-love usually draws me into dreamland, winning the battle with intentional thought.
Preparation
If I hop out of bed at 6:00 a.m., this gives me only 45 minutes before my son Tiger bounces his way into the day, dragging his sister (who is much like her mommy in the morning) behind him. I want to dedicate most of this time to reading and prayer, but preparing for the day in just a few ways makes a significant difference in how my day plays out. I try to fully prepare myself physically. This means clothed, teeth brushed, face washed, make-up on, and hair. . . well, whatever. (I don't usually shower in the mornings, this has helped me out a lot!) Also, right before the kids are due to be out of bed, I grab my magnetic white board from the fridge and write out my to-do list for the day. This is my go-to when I start spinning in circles wondering what to do next.
With hope of growing into a woman who can fully enjoy her mornings, I will get up. Maybe I should ditch my pillow altogether?
We are still training him to abide to the new wake-up rule (he starts out of bed at 5:00 declaring "I'm awake! To which we reply, "No you're not!") and we are also beginning our own wake-up challenge. I've written before how badly I want to be out of bed early so I can greet my kids with cheer instead of sneer (ha) with hot breakfast and joy, joy, joy. The problem is this: sleep is so very wonderful. I would stay seventeen forever if it meant I could sleep my weekends away. Waking up early is not even a little fun. In fact, I often find it painful to leave my pillow.
Early rising is a challenge as I am so not a morning person. I inherit this from my wonderful mother who is incapable of speaking a single word in the morning before her coffee and shower. But she gets up anyway! And so can I .I am willing to do this wholly non-Ruthann thing and try to make the most of early mornings. Dustin and I are both hopeful that the early, kidless time (hopefully soon) will allow us opportunity to read, pray, and prepare.
Reading
The Bible, that is. I am usually able to find a few minutes here and there to read a Psalm, or a familiar chapter or passage. But to sit and meditate on the Word of God, allowing His truth to fill me over and over in new ways is what I truly desire. In the early morning, sitting on the bench of our dining room table, I can soak it in, undisturbed.
Prayer
Intentional. Thought out. Early morning prayer draws out deep rooted desires and thoughts. I know prayer is important. Having the sacred time for just prayer is such an amazing gift, and I miss it sorely when I choose not to make that time. Dustin and I are learning the blessing of praying together, before our days get away from us. We had always chosen to pray before bed, but my pillow-love usually draws me into dreamland, winning the battle with intentional thought.
Preparation
If I hop out of bed at 6:00 a.m., this gives me only 45 minutes before my son Tiger bounces his way into the day, dragging his sister (who is much like her mommy in the morning) behind him. I want to dedicate most of this time to reading and prayer, but preparing for the day in just a few ways makes a significant difference in how my day plays out. I try to fully prepare myself physically. This means clothed, teeth brushed, face washed, make-up on, and hair. . . well, whatever. (I don't usually shower in the mornings, this has helped me out a lot!) Also, right before the kids are due to be out of bed, I grab my magnetic white board from the fridge and write out my to-do list for the day. This is my go-to when I start spinning in circles wondering what to do next.
With hope of growing into a woman who can fully enjoy her mornings, I will get up. Maybe I should ditch my pillow altogether?
Thursday, January 3, 2013
Building on our Rituals
Exhale with me . . .aren't you relaxed? This is my daily afternoon ritual. Acting out this little string of to-do's completes my morning and ushers me into the afternoon with peace.
We each do our own little rituals to help us enjoy our days. But beyond enjoyment, daily rituals bring a sense of order, calm, significance, and joy.
We have been away from home nearly two weeks for Christmastime, and as much as I have enjoyed time at my sister and parent's homes, I am missing my daily rituals. My days are built up with blocks of habit. Morning, mid-morning, lunch, pre-nap, nap, post-nap, dinnertime, post-dinner, pre-bed, bed, husbandtime, metime, sleeeeeeep.
Time spent at home is so very precious. This filling of our days is what creates our home atmosphere, our habitat of peace or disorder, beauty or chaos. If I were a fly on your wall, perhaps I'd miss many of the rituals that have become life to your family. You could easily glance over mine, missing the significance of the measures that mean most to us.
I have a house full of littles and a baby that has yet to sleep through the night. This home dynamic shapes the rituals we follow. The rituals themselves follow after those gotta-do's, like washing diapers and wiping faces, and take the form of both work and play. They are culture builders, like reading aloud. They are also the sweetest moments of our days, like wrapping the kids up like burritos after evening baths and parading them in their "tortillas" back to their bedrooms for pj's and the singing of the first verse and chorus of "Great is Thy Faithfulness".
More than routine, rituals feed the soul. I am keeping my eyes wide to room (or need) for new rituals in my home to bring more life, more beauty, more meaning to the day after day.
What are your family's favorite rituals?
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