Mornings with Jonah

One of the things that has always been true about our Jonah buddy is his early-to-rise tendencies.  Like his dad, it doesn't matter what time he falls asleep, he'll be up at the first signs of dawn no matter what.  He is unmistakably a morning person.  I love seeing innate character traits like that emerge in my children, but I have to admit that this one in particular has been hard for me. 

I love my morning sleep best of all and when I choose to wake up early, it's usually for the sake of spending those first quiet moments of my day with the Lord, not with Jonah.  But, I have been asking God for a new attitude about the quiet, uninterrupted time I so often spend with Jonah in the very beginning of the day.  God has been reminding me that even though I'm not spending my mornings the way I thought I would, I still have an opportunity to give God my best by loving Jonah well in the morning. 

Shawn has been able to retrieve Jonah from his crib on many occasions thanks to the handful of days he still works from home, but on the days when I'm on deck to receive our boy, our time together is pretty predictable. 

We usually pass our time by sitting side by side on the couch together.  Jonah brings his favorite blanket and asks me to tuck him in "toasty tight".  We gather up his favorite books and talk about the same things we always do as we flip through the familiar pages.  Sometimes he's ready to get up and start playing after only a few books, but most of the time we are still cozied up on the couch with a growing stack of books perched beside us when Nicole wakes up. 

Jonah listens for Nicole's door to open all morning long and when it finally does, he lets out an excited gasp, and waits with his eyebrows raised until he sees Nicole's face peek into the living room.  Face beaming and voice booming, Jonah immediately starts singing:

Good Morning, Good Morning, I'm so glad that you're awake! 

Good Morning, Good Morning, I'm so glad that you're awake! 

Nicole makes her way to the couch and after a few sleepy snuggles, and a book or two, I usually convince them that it would be a good idea for all of us to eat some breakfast.  We take our places at the table and talk about what we have on the agenda for the day.  There is peace and contentment that comes from being all together but there is also something extra special about those wee hours I share with Jonah.  

If it were up to me, both my kids would sleep in and I'd have the morning all to myself.  But thankfully, God had other plans, and He knew that Jonah would need some quality time with one of his parents before he was off and running for the day.  What I'm learning is that even some of the most inconvenient things about parenting are sacred if we allow God to speak into them.  

I hope all is well! 

Love, 

Erica