What a day in the life looks like...

I actually sat down to write in my personal journal. Thought and prayers for just me. I don't know why but I always print them out and then push delete because they are truly between God and me.

Instead I have decided to come here. I realize that not everyone wants to nose into the every day stuff I do, but for me it's entertaining to read just what my life looks like on a daily basis. Elliot will say with each visit home..."mom how do you not lose your mind?" So here it is. Just one day in my life shared.

Each morning, since he was six months old and could even use sign language, a little Emerson is in my face. His little nose comes in close he will say "SNUGGLES, COOCHIE, COOCHIE" and then "Mommy wake up, I want to eat". There you have it, the first eye opening experience which I love so dearly. Even on the days when I am most tired I can not greet this little boy without a huge kiss and a smile.

In a matter of minutes all three boys find their special spot next to mommy. They all know that mommy is a slow riser. There are three, so each one knows their place, the same spot, no fights, just cozying in as we call it around here. David will often keep Emerson and the other boys in our larger than life bathroom to allow me to sleep longer, but who can resist a sleeping mother.

We all head downstairs and guess who is first at the table. Emerson is ready, while the other two boys get dressed. Yes, my boys have known since they were wee ones that food is not served unless you are dressed for the day. Herding three boys up and down stairs could be cause for 101 distractions, so if they are dressed and downstairs it saves me lots of time and more time for play before school.

I get my coffee going, all the while chatting with Emerson. Soon the other boys are at the table slinging off orders for the special way they like things. Ice in my milk, I want the red bowl, I want my waffle frozen. Each has their special little favorite and I cator to it. However they all eat the same thing. I am no short order cook, and when it's your day to choose the rest shall follow. This morning Emerson chooses cereal.

Constant chit chat and chatter. I was at a friend's house a few weeks back. All four of her kids were eating and I paused to watch. I looked at her and said this is the quietest bunch I have ever seen. Our breakfast table is anything but quiet. I love my mornings with the boys. I personally do not look forward to the day when they are all gone. I love this start to each morning and cherish it on most days.

We are soon off to a morning play date with friends. I know the boys are getting older when I can sit in one spot and visit with the other moms while the boys play beautifully with their friends.

And this is where I will stop. Because as I thought I would share my entire day, my brain has gone a different direction. One which might offend and I will apologize up front. I am a stay home mom. I have been present, even when I worked and ran a multimillion dollar company I was with my kids when they were not in school. I sat and enjoyed a long breakfast, chit chats in the car on the way to school. There were years when I had very little. Times in my life when I did not have a car, because there was no money in our budget. I am very employable, smart by most standards, but the greatest asset of smarts God every gave me was the need my children have for a parent to be present in their life, to raise them, to teach them, to be silly over a long breakfast. How could I miss that. I cherish that. I hear moms all the time say that they could never do that, they just don't have it in them. But many of those same moms live with much guilt over watching their kids grow up and leave home and never really knowing them.

I say over and over how God gives us the desires of our hearts. That is one desire that had long been at the top of my list, and one desire that God has a longstanding history of blessing me with. Wow, I did not know my heart would go here this evening, but it has and I know that in a large or small income the scenery most important to me has never changed. That being the little squishy faces that I get to see every single day. Thanks God!!!!