Early rising.

I used to be a total night owl. I'm pretty sure in college I never went to bed before 1am. But, when you are a mom of early risers, sleeping in just isn't a part of life. I think early on in having kids I felt frustrated that I couldn't sleep in. But honestly, I kind of just let go of that. Because I realized on mornings where my sweet husband did let me sleep in I felt bummed that I had missed out on a sweet morning with my family. So, I basically decided to be a morning person. And it was kind of that easy. Although, since having more kids and adding in homeschooling my days are really full. So, it has become really important to me to wake up early before anyone else so that I can have some quiet time. I am a much better mom when I have had the chance to wake up, have a cup of coffee and spend some time with the Lord before I greet my small people. It kind of makes me laugh now because I know in the past when I have wanted to get up early to exercise or something it never lasted for more than a few days. I guess it just wasn't enticing enough to get out of my cozy bed and exercise. But, coffee and some alone time before my day starts is totally worth waking up early. I love and treasure this time so much. So these days my alarm is set at 5:40 and I stumble downstairs and get the coffee maker going (and a smart person would prep the coffee pot the night before... but apparently I am not that person). Usually I have until 6:15 or 6:30 until I am greeted by one of my little boys.

Yesterday I got up early to work on making prayer cards, an idea I got at a prayer conference at our church awhile back. I loved having the quiet time to work on this!

P.S. The key to waking up early is to just start doing it. I used to try to start by going to bed earlier but it is hard to make yourself fall asleep early if you are used to staying up late. But, after several days of consistently waking up early you will be tired and start easily falling asleep early. Now I fall asleep between 9:30 and 10 almost every night.