Contentment

There's gotta be something wrong with mornings. Or maybe there's something wrong with late nights that make mornings so wrong? Either way, one of them is the pits.

If I want to have any meaningful conversations with my teens, I have to stay up well past 11:30. I remember my friend Martha being so tired all the time because she had been up until 3 a.m. talking to her teen. I remember thinking that would be so hard to do!

Actually, the staying up part is easy. I love talking with them, hearing their thoughts, laughing at their daily antics shared with me, sharing some of my own. I get wonderful insight on who they are and how they process the things happening in their lives. I come away with such peace because I realize . . . with God's help . . . they're going to be all right. They're good kids, and they're making such wise, yet sometimes difficult, choices. I am blessed!

No, the staying up part is easy.

When the alarm rings, that's when it's hard. I still have one that's not a teen and she wants a part of me in the morning! I have a spouse who tries not to talk to me or, heaven forbid, wake me before my alarm goes off. Sometimes, I'm unable to get much sleep at all and I'm just coming to bed two hours before he gets up (why does God think it's so funny to pair a morning person with a non-morning person?).

My favorite evenings are when I'm tucked in bed with jammies on, and all three kids are piled all over the bed or on the futon in our room. John falls asleep quickly while we laugh and talk, waking periodically to ask why "all these people" are still in his room, add some input, and drift off again. Tyler has us all laughing when he shares the odd experience at the track -- he puts such a humorous spin on ordinary events. Kelly gets us rolling with her witty comments and input. Glenna tries to be a quiet little mouse so no one will notice she's still not in bed, or she gets poked and tossed around by me or her siblings (she LOVES that). We all start to giggle when John snores, wakes himself up with a particularly loud one, hears us laughing, then rolls over while mumbling, "Why are all these people still in my room?"

As for me -- I take it all in and take mental "snapshots" to treasure later. This is MY time with them. There's no one I love to be with more than my husband and my children. I know it's so important to soak it all up before God sends them off for His purposes! My newborn son is turning 18 in April. My baby girl will be 15 this summer. My infant daughter will reach "double hockey-sticks," eleven, in July. I praise God for the women He placed in my life who constantly encouraged me to slow down, enjoy them, and soak it all in. Nothing is more important, nothing has any urgency. I thank God for His conviction to home school so they could be with me even longer! It's the hardest thing I've ever done, but also the best thing I've ever done.

My house isn't spotless. My desk is a wreck. I feel I always could use more sleep. However, and I believe this is a big however; we are content. God is good.