I (Grant) have put some thought into the subject and have brainstormed ways to eliminate the normal stress of Sunday morning preparations. I would like to share some of these ideas here on the blog for others' benefit. I will do so by describing last Sunday morning.
Side note: church here begins and 11:00 a.m. and we live approximately 50 feet from the church, so our departure time and travel distance may vary slightly from yours.
Our Sunday morning began with my alarm going off at 6:30 a.m. I make extra effort on Sunday mornings to be up moderately early for devotional time. Shortly after, Titus woke up and joined me in the living room. He played with toys on the rug while I sat on the couch with a cup of coffee and my Bible. Hannah decided to rest a little more. She deserves some extra sleep on this day of rest.
The setting was nice with the sun starting to come out about 7:00. The house had been straightened up and the kitchen all cleaned up the night before to allow for a fresh start this morning. Ivory soon woke up also and joined Titus playing toys while I continued with my Bible reading. I turned on WeeSing Bible songs to set the mood for the day.
Around 7:30, I stuck in the egg casserole that Hannah had made the night before. We have found that having breakfast all ready to go on Sunday morning eases the time and mess that meal time brings. An hour later, I pulled the casserole out of the oven and took the kids back to wake up Hannah for breakfast.
I decided to stick them both in Titus's pack-and-play to see if they would like it. I'd say that they did :)
After breakfast, both kids went down for naps (benefit of church starting a little later) while we proceeded with morning duties. The children woke up around 10:30, which gave us just enough time to get their clothes on and head out to church.
Really, the key to low-stress Sunday mornings is to plan and prepare ahead. A little self-discipline is involved in not waiting until the last minute to do everything, but the benefits are definitely worth it. You see, we (along with all blogging families) have it figured out. We have life together and always smile for the camera and phrase sentences the right way. I'm not sure why everybody else can't get their life together. The End.
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... Or not. Here's Sunday morning, take 2:
Okay, okay. I'll admit. Not all the details were included in my post. Below you will find the post again, with more details added this time.
Our Sunday morning began with my alarm going off at 6:30 a.m. I make extra effort on Sunday mornings to be up moderately early for devotional time. Shortly after, Titus woke up and joined me in the living room. He played with toys on the rug while I sat on the couch with a cup of coffee and my Bible. Hannah decided to rest a little more. She deserves some extra sleep on this day of rest.
I guess I failed to mention that I was so groggy when my alarm went off that it took me a while to get it shut off. It woke up Titus. (Our children do not maintain good moods when they are woken up). Hannah got up and fed him in the time it took me to get out of bed. Once I was up, she asked me to change his diaper while she went to the bathroom. Although she only quietly spoke a few words, her face and eyes screamed at me that she needed more sleep. I told her to go back to bed and I would take care of Titus.
Half way through changing Titus's diaper, I looked over to see the mouse we had been trying to catch for 10 days come darting into the bedroom. It saw me, stopped, and darted back out. I decided not to share that information with Hannah at that time.
The setting was nice with the sun starting to come out about 7:00. The house had been straightened up and the kitchen all cleaned up the night before to allow for a fresh start this morning. Ivory soon woke up also and joined Titus playing toys while I continued with my Bible reading. I turned on WeeSing Bible songs to set the mood for the day.
When I said that Ivory soon woke up, I really meant that one of Titus's first activities was to leave his toys, crawl over to Ivory's bedroom door and start screaming. (I again want to mention that our children do not maintain good moods when they are woken up). Ivory very soon woke up.
Within a matter of minutes, she had pulled out nearly every container of toys we own and dumped them out on the clean living room floor. Titus proceeded to put some choking-hazard item in his mouth, probably once a minute on average. Every time, I had to set down my Bible and my coffee, run to him, and pull the object out of this mouth. In between the one-minute rescue intervals, Ivory begged me to read books to her instead of just reading to myself.
I didn't take away anything from my "quiet" time that morning except for reminding myself what a father's love should like... but that had nothing to do with the text I was reading.
Around 7:30, I stuck in the egg casserole that Hannah had made the night before. We have found that having breakfast all ready to go on Sunday morning eases the time and mess that meal time brings. An hour later, I pulled the casserole out of the oven and took the kids back to wake up Hannah for breakfast.
My sanity was challenged in the hour the egg casserole was baking. My children were not happy. My wife was tired. And I just wanted some quietness.
The WeeSing Bible songs came to a close and the music switched to a Christmas CD. Although it was January 18th, I didn't even care.
When we finally woke Hannah up, her eyes and face looked the same as they had 2 hours previously.
I decided to stick them both in Titus's pack-and-play to see if they would like it. I'd say that they did :)
It took a while for Hannah to make it from the bed to the breakfast table. Our children also did their part in dragging out the process a little longer. Surprisingly enough, she did care about the Christmas music and requested that it be shut off. She also casually asked if I had caught the mouse the night before. I casually responded, "not yet", hoping to avoid further conversation on the subject.
When we finally sat down to eat, the egg casserole was no longer hot. That's saying a lot for a fresh-out-of-the-oven egg casserole. Titus bawled through the whole mealtime prayer, but we finally dug into the casserole. My first bite tasted like paint. Very strongly like paint. Delicious.
Here's what had happened... when painting with a roller, I will very often stick the roller into a plastic bag and keep it overnight in the refrigerator. The next morning, I'll pull it out and keep painting. It works pretty slick and I've done it countless time. But always with a latex paint.
Well, a few days back, I had stuck an oil-based paint roller into the fridge. Advice: NEVER do that. I about killed my wife when she opened up the fridge a few hours later.
We eventually got the fumes to leave, but not before the opened package of potato patties in the freezer had absorbed the odor. These happened to be the same potato patties that Hannah used in the casserole.
After breakfast, both kids went down for naps (benefit of church starting a little later) while we proceeded with morning duties. The children woke up around 10:30, which gave us just enough time to get their clothes on and head out to church.
When I say that the kids went down for naps, that's code for: the kids were so fussy we stuck them in bed because there wasn't anything else to do. Somehow the morning still got away from us. Hannah was getting out of the shower at about the time that I needed to be at church for Sunday School responsibilities, so I took Ivory with me and headed to church. Hannah came about ten minutes later. All the toys were still piled in the living room and the breakfast dishes were still on the table.
Really, the key to low-stress Sunday mornings is to plan and prepare ahead. A little self-discipline is involved in not waiting until the last minute to do everything, but the benefits are definitely worth it. You see, we (along with all blogging families) have it figured out. We have life together and always smile for the camera and phrase sentences the right way. I'm not sure why everybody else can't get their life together. The End.
So the next time you see us "put together" in church or anywhere in public for that matter, just don't ask questions.
We want to share with you how entertaining this was to us when we really needed something good (on the way home from Florida, in the van for 17 hours). We feel such a kindred spirit with you that we thought it worth sharing our favorite "Sunday morning" video clip- enjoy! (if the link doesn't work, google sunday morning skit guys.) :)
ReplyDeletehttps://skitguys.com/videos/item/sunday-morning