So, I've been bad about ignoring this blog for some time. We had our sixth child and third boy, Nahum Joseph Hicks ("Nacho" or "Mr. Stretchypants" for short), on October 13th, 2009. We also made considerable progress on our homeschooling, saw Aunt Kate off to college, had a family vacation to Denver over Thanksgiving, a great Christmas, a fun New Year's party. There are many
other things I should have posted about but haven't. Moving on...
Crystal and I have felt convicted for a while now about getting up in the mornings. Neither of us are "morning people"*, and especially after you've dealt with a fussy baby all night long it's hard to roll out of bed in the morning. However, we could see the necessity of getting an early start to the day for several reasons:
- We need time to pray together and discuss God's word apart from the kids.
- we need time to discuss our plan for the day
- we both wanted time to exercise and keep in shape
- we wanted a time when we could consistently do family worship with the kids
- we wanted to get the kids started on chores and school before 11AM
While we were trying to do some of those things in the evenings, there were often too many interruptions. Even when there wasn't something else going on we often were too tired and worn-out by the end of the day to stay motivated enough to get it all done.
We've agreed several times to start getting up at 6AM before the kids, but it was always too easy to shut off the alarm or hit the snooze, but in the end we realized the toll this was taking on our family. So yesterday, for the first time, we both got up when the alarm went off. I know this may seem insignificant to you morning people out there (you know who you are...), but it was really difficult for us. We prayed together while we exercised, and then woke up the kids and had family worship together. What a great start to the day.
To be honest, the rest of the day was miserable. We were grouchy. The kids were grouchy. They doddled through their chores, they fought with each other, they weren't obedient, they barely got any schoolwork done, which made us even more grouchy. But, in the end, we're still glad we did it.
We got up at 6AM today again too. It was a little bit easier (not much, mind you), and so far things have gone a little bit better. I'm hoping this pattern continues...
It really is refreshing to get a good start to the day. While we're both rather exhausted, being able to spend time focusing on God (both as a couple and together with the kids) first thing in the morning really will change things. I'm looking forward to it (all but the getting up part).
* Emery, unlike his parents, is a morning person. Regardless of what time he goes to bed he rises early to greet the new day and cheerfully (and loudly) lets anyone who is sleeping know that it's time to be up!
So, I've been bad about ignoring this blog for some time. We had our sixth child and third boy, Nahum Joseph Hicks ("Nacho" or "Mr. Stretchypants" for short), on October 13th, 2009. We also made considerable progress on our homeschooling, saw Aunt Kate off to college, had a family vacation to Denver over Thanksgiving, a great Christmas, a fun New Year's party. There are many
other things I should have posted about but haven't. Moving on...
Crystal and I have felt convicted for a while now about getting up in the mornings. Neither of us are "morning people"*, and especially after you've dealt with a fussy baby all night long it's hard to roll out of bed in the morning. However, we could see the necessity of getting an early start to the day for several reasons:
- We need time to pray together and discuss God's word apart from the kids.
- we need time to discuss our plan for the day
- we both wanted time to exercise and keep in shape
- we wanted a time when we could consistently do family worship with the kids
- we wanted to get the kids started on chores and school before 11AM
While we were trying to do some of those things in the evenings, there were often too many interruptions. Even when there wasn't something else going on we often were too tired and worn-out by the end of the day to stay motivated enough to get it all done.
We've agreed several times to start getting up at 6AM before the kids, but it was always too easy to shut off the alarm or hit the snooze, but in the end we realized the toll this was taking on our family. So yesterday, for the first time, we both got up when the alarm went off. I know this may seem insignificant to you morning people out there (you know who you are...), but it was really difficult for us. We prayed together while we exercised, and then woke up the kids and had family worship together. What a great start to the day.
To be honest, the rest of the day was miserable. We were grouchy. The kids were grouchy. They doddled through their chores, they fought with each other, they weren't obedient, they barely got any schoolwork done, which made us even more grouchy. But, in the end, we're still glad we did it.
We got up at 6AM today again too. It was a little bit easier (not much, mind you), and so far things have gone a little bit better. I'm hoping this pattern continues...
It really is refreshing to get a good start to the day. While we're both rather exhausted, being able to spend time focusing on God (both as a couple and together with the kids) first thing in the morning really will change things. I'm looking forward to it (all but the getting up part).
* Emery, unlike his parents, is a morning person. Regardless of what time he goes to bed he rises early to greet the new day and cheerfully (and loudly) lets anyone who is sleeping know that it's time to be up!
Update - and getting up!
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