Not much challenges my patience more.... actually make that all of those wonderful fruits of the Spirit more... than being up when I should be/ want to be sleeping. Especially when it seems as though the "urgency" of the given situation is not so urgent.
We are in a rut in the Panter house of kids either getting out of bed or waking up to tell us something "really important"!! The following is a true, not exaggerated list of things said to Tom or me in the past week, usually between the hours of 12:30 am and 6:30 am, but occasionally during naptime or bedtime...
(And understand that there is a "no talking" rule, which explains many of the confessions)
-MOMMY!!!! I'm picking my nose!
-i picked my nose again and by mistake I ate it!
-I keep biting myself!
-I just went pee and sucked my finger and didn't wash my hand!
-is it ok if I don't talk but make clicking noises?!
-I just put a Lego in my mouth but then I took it out!
-i was just calling and calling for daddy and by mistake I woke up Justus but i put him back to sleep. But I really really need to tell daddy something, and it's this. that I just said two words: "not not"
-I just sang a song by mistake but now I'll stop
-I just need to tell you that one little dot of pee is on my pants but it's ok!
-mommy! By mistake im picking my nose again!
-I'm just coming down to tell you that if I wake up and talk by mistake I'll stop talking!
-i just wiped my bottom and then by mistake i sucked my finger!
-mommy! I almost said one word but then I stopped!
-I just need to tell you that i went potty and forgot to put my underwear and shorts back on but then I remembered!
Many of these have actually awoken me from a nice sleep, and going back to sleep while pregnant just isn't easy. Big sigh.
I share this because
1) it's funny. I'm going to look back and laugh, more than I have been laughing when I'm fighting to get what feels like well-deserved sleep.
2) I know that life isn't about me getting enough sleep, and it isn't even about me being happy. Even when I'm pregnant and even when I really do feel like I need it. I am still this morning struggling with kindness, patience and joy despite how I feel but I know there are bigger issues when it comes to mommying my kids than simply doing whatever it takes to get them to leave me alone during the hours that I deem "bedtime".
I so I wearily ask for the takeover of the fruit of the Spirit this morning, cause i know He is in me and therein lies my hope. And God, somehow, help me show YOU to my boys.
And to my boys.... Don't pick your nose, don't touch your bottom, and if you do, just WASH YOUR HANDS!!!!!
