Good stuff

I finally feel the calm of "normal" life returning! The Christmas decorations are put away and the house has generally been tidied. The kitchen is restocked with healthy food and a meal plan hangs on the fridge. Regular bedtime and morning routines are once again in place. We have started school again.

My alarm goes off at 6:00am but I am slow to wake. At about 6:30 I get my cup of coffee from the pot that Aaron has set and fresh for me every morning. I take it back to bed and in the cozy light read my Bible, scribble in my journal a bit, and pray. Most mornings I hear the boys starting to stir at about 7:30 and I am ready to greet them with enthusiasm and joy. This morning Jeremiah wakes before Nathaniel and joins me. He snuggles under the covers and we chat. He tells me about a scary dream he had a few days ago but didn't want to talk about. As I look at his face I marvel at the blue of his eyes. I catch another glimpse of the young man he is becoming. At a pause in the conversation he gets up. Before I can ask what he is doing he is back with his Bible. He turns to the back where he has found a kids Bible reading plan. He enthusiastically begins reading in Matthew and in no time at all has checked off 3 days worth of reading.

Nathaniel is obviously slow to wake this morning. At about 8:30 he joins us, dressed in his favorite sweat pants. It is his 3rd day in a row in the camo pants, but I let it pass. He crawls up and snuggles because morning snuggles are one of his favorite things.

The morning unfolded and it was good. We enjoyed breakfast. We prayed and I loved hearing the boys voices praying for others. We cleaned up the school room and got rid of a lot of clutter without any arguments or frustration. We did school work and spent an hour snuggled on the couch with our read-aloud.

And I realized that these are the moments to cherish. I spend so much time wishing I was a better mother, beating myself up over all the ways I fail or all the things I leave undone, that I miss these moments. I miss the good stuff that is going on here.