Good Evening, Y'all! Happy Fall! It's finally getting cool here in Texas. As I sit with my honey on the couch, listening to the wind blow as a cool front comes in, I can't help but get excited for next week and Thanksgiving. But I won't jump ahead to next week. Let me tell you about this week.
Our beautiful darling children have been struggling with the end of Daylight Savings Time. I mean, personally, I am ready to write whoever is in charge and petition to just get rid of this whole Springing Forward an hour and Falling Back an hour. Seriously. Is anyone else with me? We have seen way too many 5:00ams. Like this week, they were up between 5:00 - 5:30am almost every morning.
On Tuesday, the kids woke up super early. We had a full day ahead of us too. I laid JB down for her morning nap a little early and was trying to get some Bible reading in before tackling the busy day ahead. I was sitting on the couch, letting Sawyer play on the ground and watching a movie. I had my pen in hand and my Bible in my lap. Sawyer noticed I had a pen and came over, "Can I have that pencil?" "Sure," I said and handed it (he loves writing). He then crawled up on the couch with me and said, "I need a Bible too." Melt. My. Heart. I handed him a stack of sticky notes that were in my bag and asked him if he could write me notes about the Bible as I read it out loud to him. So he did. JB was fighting her nap, so I decided we would go out for our errands earlier than expected. I got her loaded in the car and came back in to get Sawyer. He had taken every sticky note, "wrote" on it, and had placed them all over the pillows on the couch. He was so proud. And so was I. I love seeing these little blossoms of fruit in his life.
On Wednesday, there was no getting them to stay in bed. We were up at 5:00am. In a way this was a blessing in disguise because I had forgotten that I was in charge of bringing grapes for Sawyer's school Thanksgiving feast. I loaded the kids up in their pajamas and off to the store we went. As we drove up with it still dark out, Sawyer reads happily "H-E-B." I think it is great he is recognizing letters and words, but seriously, at 6:00am I would have been just as happy to be sleeping. Well, we made it through the grocery store, still bleary eyed and barely cognizant. We had donuts for breakfast, and I got all the grapes cut up before school started. Wednesday was off to a great start! Later that day, we were headed North for our weekly class. The kids had fallen asleep in the car, so I ended up driving around a small little neighborhood for two hours listening to Systematic Theology. Thank you podcasts.
So you can see a small glimpse of how our weeks have been lately. The funny thing: I have been trying to trust God more with my time, especially with my sleep (as you probably remember from previous posts, I love sleep). I have a tendency to say, "OK God, I trust you with my sleep tonight" with the idea that He will help keep the kids asleep. I am putting contingencies on my trust in Him. Just these past few days have I really realized that I must trust Him when I get sleep and when I don't get sleep. He will carry me through my day either way - completely rested or utterly exhausted.
Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.
He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.
Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
but those who hope in the Lord
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.
Isaiah 40:28-31 (NIV)
So easily I can pass over the above passage because I hear it so often. But it is Truth. I love how God never grows tired or weary. Oh, how I long for a day to not be tired or weary. May my hope be in the Lord as I trust Him with my time, my sleep, and with my children's sleep.
- Dusty
Sam here: I just need to say how amazing it is to see my wife Dusty pouring into our kids and supporting me and our family every step of the way. For instance, It's currently 11:30pm. Sawyer has been coughing for several minutes, but now Jahanabell is awake because she wet the bed. So now they are both awake crying. So I'm signing off on my way to help with "operation: get-the-kids-to-sleep". And Dusty is a rockstar.
God is good. God is our strength.
