So while I toil away at the computer screen with my cup of java steaming on my desk on this cold winter morning, I can still hear the sounds of my morning. My youngest (10 months) sticking his tongue out and making flubbery (just made that one up) noises while he balances himself on his learning-to-walk legs on a box of diapers. Reese eating her cereal while Caden saws logs upstairs.
None of this possible without my little lady. And by little I mean she's only 5'2".
She is up with Cullen at 6:30am. He's ready to be up and rolls around the bed smacking each of us in the face to tell us he's ready to play.
She picks him up with a kiss and they are off to the diaper change.
I lie.
Reese comes in from waking up and says "Hi daddy" and I give her a hug. She shows me her new "Frozen" shirt she got from Target yesterday. The shirt is "cool" I tell her. Pun intended. She says "I know" very matter of fact. She's excited though. She's doing flips on the inside. Its how she rolls.
I still lie.
"Mommy" asks if I can get up and watch the boy while she showers Reese.
I can lie no longer.
I fumble around, body creaking from the nights slumber, find my shirt and flannel pants and head straight to the coffee machine. I can hear the sound of the little one, his talking and playing with familiar sounding toys so I don't need to be there quite yet.
Caden stumbles from his bedroom, "Hi Dad. I slept a long time!"
Reese is out of the shower by the time my coffee is going and now its time for Caden to head in. He likes the long hot shower and reminds me of his uncle who used to fall asleep in the warm shower before we had to be at school. My dad would go turn off the hot water in those instances and my brother would get a cool surprise.
Fast forward to me going out the door to work.
All three kids are showered, dressed, have eaten breakfast and are ready for their day. It's about 7:30am. And most of the time I just laid in bed.
My stay-at-home wife is quite a luxury for me. No worries about any of those morning routines. I just know its going to get done. There are an innumerable amount of things my wife takes care of at home. She is homeschooling the children on top of the every day duties, so even more on her plate than I would say would be normally.
We have a healthy family. We are not lacking for any necessity. We get sick, but are not critically ill. We are "starving" sometimes because we haven't had a snack for a couple hours, but really we are never hungry. We have a house we are remodeling and there is sheetrock dust in every crack and crevice, and it will probably never be clean until we are done, but still, we have a roof over our head and warm air fills the house on cold winter days.
I have been down lately because of all the work I forsee in various projects around the house. Yes, probably my biggest complaint. So in the grand scheme of things ... really nothing at all.
If you are a stay-at-home mom or dad, thank you. If you are the spouse of someone who stays at home, enjoy your luxury, and thank you for your service to mankind. Your kids will thank you. Someday. When they realize the luxury of someone who stays home with them.
Blessings,
Jon
1 John 2:15-16 - - Do
not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love
for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world—the lust of the
flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father
but from the world.
