Quiet Time

    Yes! I finally woke up extra early today. And I didn’t just wake up, I actually GOT UP. My alarm is always set to go off at 4am. Yes you read that right - 4AM hahaha! Pretty early huh? Well, the primary reason that my alarm is scheduled to go off at this time is because I don’t want to miss a feeding. Natalie can sleep through the night, and by this I mean not just for 5 straight hours, but up to 6-7 hours already ever since she was 3 and a half months. I know most of you would say that that is great, and it is J but I was blessed with petite babies and my pedia always says that they could use the extra calories. So if Natalie doesn’t wake up to feed, I just pick her up and feed her in bed while she’s asleep. If she’s not hungry and won’t budge, I simply go back to snoozeland or pump the milk out if necessary.

    This morning though I just couldn’t go back to sleep right away. And it turned out to be a blessing. I usually try to wake up early to do a couple of things that require more concentration and focus, but before I know it, the girls are awake. But today I was extra early so I had more time on my hands. It felt good to have more quiet time. The day is just so full of things to do and has its share of distractions, both good and bad. So to me, silence was a welcome sound.

    I have always wanted to make a habit out of waking up super early, not just because of the peace and quiet that would be available to me, but for a more important reason - to pray and plan.

    My day just gets so busy and much as I’d like to get my thoughts organized or shut the door and pray, I just can’t help but attend to the needs of my family and household. I do have a toddler and a baby whose needs can’t be met by just anyone else. If only my husband could breastfeed even just on the weekends, it would be really great hahaha! But he wasn’t made for that, and I alone can do the job. And there are so many other things that I was meant to do, so I do it - even if it eats up my own time.

   No wonder the Proverbs 31 Woman (my peg) would “get up while it is still night, she provides food for her family and portions for her female servants.” (NIV) and translated in The Message Bible as:

"She’s up before dawn, preparing breakfast

 for her family and organizing her day." 

                                                                                                    - Proverbs 31:15

     Waking up before everyone else is up just gives us a good head start. I believe so much more can be accomplished if we start our day off by praying and then planning. So I’m just going to make waking up really early a goal and a habit once again. (Yes, I was successful once upon a time, but I’ve gone back to my old ways of loving sleep. And I’ve tried countless times to get up earlier than usual, but again sleep and tiredness always wins). Hopefully this time I will be able to do it again. (Discipline is key. If I could just bring myself to always sleep earlier than midnight, I know waking up would be easier!)

      I wrote a list in my little notebook this morning to help remind me why I need to do this. I thought of re-typing it but that will take up even more time, so I just took a pic of it so I can just upload it here hahaha! (time is precious you know!).

Hope this helps you too :)