Sunday morning madness (or not)

Sunday mornings are usually tense and full of drama, with the five of us trying to bathe, dress, eat and get out the door to church in a timely manner (as in, on time). This is our weekly routine:

Me: wake up at 7am, with the intention of showering and getting completely ready before anyone else even gets out of bed; 7:15am, before the coffee is even brewed, Gabe wakes up soaking wet and needing a bath (even though he had one the night before...I swear the kid drinks all of the bathwater!); 5 minutes later, Isabel's mommy radar alarms, letting her know I am awake and she needs to be, too (her mommy radar is the strongest, although Gabe is a close second...does anyone else's kids have this function? is there a way to disable it?); now Gabe is bathed and dressed for church in clothes he "can't like" (ie, there are buttons and a collar on the shirt, and pants without grass stains on them) and Elijah is awake, wanting his breakfast the minute his feet hit the floor. By now, it is 9am and I still haven't had one sip of coffee! Where is my dear hubby, you ask? Still sleeping, making up for staying awake playing World of Warcraft until 3am (am I bitter? do I sound bitter? well, maybe a little). I fix breakfast for the kids, drink two sips of coffee, tell Elijah and Isabel to get dressed and for God's sake please brush their teeth, then put on a cartoon for Gabe and jump in the shower. Do I have time to shave my legs? No, looks like pants today. Shower, dry, dress, makeup, teeth, anytime left to fix my hair? Will it really look that bad in a hairband? (the answer to this question is a definite yes). Break up a fight between Gabe and Elijah, ask Isabel to take out the dog, and tell Joe for the third time that IT IS TIME TO WAKE UP!!!

Joe: Wake up at 10am, get a shower, eat breakfast, get dressed, walk out the door and wonder why Heather is always so cranky on Sundays. Isn't this supposed to be a joyful day?

With Joe being out of town this week, I dreaded doing this Sunday routine all by myself. I don't know why, but I did. So when the morning started out with Gabe peeing the bed and needing a bath, I was not surprised. Here we go, I thought to myself. But then something amazing happened...God smiled down at me and blessed my morning, making everything else go even better than according to plan. Gabe didn't complain (too much) about his church clothes; everyone got breakfast, even me; I got to drink two cups of coffee in peace while surfing my favorite blogs; no one fought at all; I showered, dressed, put my makeup on, AND fixed my hair, all before 10am; and I even managed to take pictures along the way to prove what a great Sunday this was shaping up to be. I even found a bit of scripture that went right along with my day:

"Commit your work to the Lord, and then your plans will succeed." Prov16:3 (NLT)

Well, if I only would've done that sooner. Amazing how not expecting the help of my beloved husband, but counting on God, helped me with my Sunday morning. So enough with the verbage, now on to the pictures...

Gabe, being a good sport with Mommy and her camera, while being "so naked" in the tub...

Isabel, deciding that now was the perfect time to train our puppy, Ellie, to sit, stay and roll over. And guess what? It worked!

Gabe, in his collared and button-down church shirt, eating a healthy breakfast of scrambled eggs and milk and not getting any on his clothes (I told you God was smiling on me)...

Elijah and Isabel, all dressed and ready (teeth even brushed!), totally getting along and acting goofy for the camera...

I couldn't ask for better kids, and although we miss Joe, it's kind of nice to know that I can manage quite well without him here. Here's to a great Sunday!