Fred has inspired me to share a few snapshots from my daily life as he has done on his mission blog. I'm actually taking the time to blog today because I went to bed early (10 pm) last night for once and got up at 5 am when Joe was crying for me from his crib. He went back to sleep immediately once I tucked him in between Derek and me, and since I wasn't sleepy, I got up. What a difference it makes to get up and have two hours to myself, uninterrupted! Why can't I remember this?
I can tell you, in part I have forgotten it for the past 9 months that we owned a puppy. We made the difficult decision last week to give Penny back to the family that she came from. I must admit, I felt very sad and guilty for a day or two. As far as puppies go, you couldn't ask for a better dog than Penny. I believe she will grow up to be an obedient, loyal dog. My favorite thing about Penny was running with her. She is a beautiful, muscular creature that runs gracefully and amazingly fast. Once she was trained to stay within a 25 yard radius of me as we ran our familiar country road/canal route, I loved having a running buddy and watching her explore our country surroundings. However, those few moments during the week didn't outweigh the dirt that she tracked into the house, the dog hairs that I found every where (even though she was only allowed on our main floor), the toys and shoes that she chewed up, the potty messes that she would leave in the family room if she was mad that we had been gone all day (even though she was kept outside while we were gone, as soon as we came home and let her in, that became a naughty trick of hers). Besides the messes was the relentless routine or raising a puppy. I couldn't get up early enough to enjoy these quiet, uninterrupted hours without children before I would hear Penny yelping from her kennel. If I didn't take her immediately for a run to get our her energy, the rest of the day would be spent trying to control her restlessness and cleaning up the messes she'd gotten into because she was stir crazy. So with all of that said, I am glad to have my mornings back.
This morning I read scriptures and was reminded yet again to not look "beyond the mark" and trust that the answers I need are found in the scriptures (D&C 18:3). I read part of "Three Steps to a Strong Family" by Richard and Linda Eyre, which I had downloaded to my computer ages ago and fortuitously stumbled upon this morning. It gave me the practical advice that I needed to try yet again to tweak our daily routine here at home so it doesn't feel so chaotic. Inspired by that advice, I revised our family chore charts and resolved to implement a simplified version of a chore/reward/allowance system that we have tried in the past. I'll let ya know how that one goes... Derek laughs at how many charts, calendars, programs I try to figure out how to motivate the kids to do their responsibilities.
Now it's time for my morning run. Sans Penny. But after a productive, inspired morning, I'm okay with that.
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