One of Those Mornings...

Oh man, it wasn't pretty around here this morning.

Today was our first Late Start day of the school year. This probably sounds really great, right? Like who wouldn't want to be able to sleep in for an extra hour? Sounds blissful.

Yeah, not so much. Because apparently my morning organization depends on the preset times that I have neatly memorized...Joseph out the door at 7:05, Kayanna goes at 7:20, walk Shaylee to school at 7:40, Kahlan at 7:55. Neat, tidy, easy as pie.

This morning I had to use my brain in order to add 50 minutes to each of those times. Now maybe at 7:20 a.m. I could tack on an hour...that isn't too hard. But my brain does not add +50 very well when it is lacking food, energy, and sleep.

And so my morning kind of went like this: Is it time to get up was the alarm set correctly James stop crawling on me oh there goes the alarm can I hit snooze one more time gotta get joseph up joseph get dressed joseph get dressed joseph get dressed make breakfast gotta get kayanna up no you don't have time to shower dad's in the shower kahlan has to shower maybe you can shower i have to shower can you shower in five minutes no i don't know where your socks are yes you have gym today no i don't have any more cinnamon toast crunch oops Aimee wet the bed don't worry it was just an accident accidents happen yes it's fine don't worry honey Kahlan do you have your books together good-bye joseph let me do your hair good-bye Kayanna no Aliegha I am not ready for you yet James is trying to eat his plate time to go Shaylee Kahlan are you ready no you can't take Shaylee to school you aren't ready yet are your contacts in...

And on top of all that I had to try to add that darn 50 minutes to each departure time.

To say I was fried would be a gross understatement.

It was so bad that when I was in the bathroom trying to find a way to make myself look presentable for Bible study, Steve said, "Well, look at the bright side. At least you have material for your blog tonight."

I can't describe the look I gave him. Let's just say it wasn't very kind, and leave it at that.

And suddenly I didn't want to go to my Bible study today. I didn't want to learn about God. I didn't want to be obedient. I just wanted to turn off my life and go to sleep.

But I made myself be still for a few seconds, and even though I didn't want to, I told myself that I was going to go. Steve reminded me that I would feel better if I went, and I remembered what happened when I said No a couple days ago. So I got my stuff together and headed out to the van.

When turning on the van, I started relaxing to one of my favorite radio stations. It isn't a Christian radio station, but it has music that doesn't make my ears burn. And I felt a little convicted. I wasn't listening to my favorite Christian radio station because I knew they had talk programs at that hour, and I wanted to relax to music. But this is all about stretching myself, right? And how can I tell God that I want to give Him all of me and then decide that I am not interested in learning more about Him because I like music better? So I switched the station.

About two minutes into the featured speaker's story, she said something like this... "And then I felt that God was telling me to say Yes to Him, and so I did."

Man, did the tears flood into my eyes. This was not a coincidence. This was a God-incidence. After the morning I had, no one would have batted an eye if I told them that I skipped Bible study. It would have been *understandable*. But I didn't let my struggle keep me from doing what I felt led to do. And God, within two minutes of getting in the car, found a way to show me that I had made the right decision.

And I got to Bible study, and I LOVED it. My heart was filled, my mind was renewed, and I came home to my children a better mother than when I left.

It was a Late Start day in more ways than one...