I woke up early this morning, as I’m prone to do when I go to bed early the night before, and as I lay in bed I could hear the rain falling outside. I pondered for a moment the risks of trying to crawl out of bed without waking up Judah… and I wondered if I should just try to go back to sleep and enjoy another hour or two of snoozing… and then I thought about the idea of sitting on the covered front porch, wrapped up in a blanket, sipping a cup of hot tea, all alone to watch the rain… and I quickly popped up, slid to the end of the bed, tiptoed back to my side of the bed, covered Judah up, grabbed my glasses and shoes and computer, and was off to my morning adventure.

I grabbed a hooded sweatshirt, started the hot water, and then shivered as I stepped out into the wet morning air. Quickly I snuggled into a chair on the front porch, wrapping a blanket around my legs and snuggling down into my jacket.

What a beautiful morning! The rain is soothing and refreshing. The porch is cozy and offers the perfect shelter from which to peer out. The birds don’t mind the rain, so they are keeping me company. They check out the front lawn, they peck at this and that, and in general seem to not even notice that they are getting wet out there!

Kids are scattered in various places around the house. Two are sleeping in the living room. (They think it a grand adventure to sleep somewhere other than their beds. )  Michael took the older three children to Walmart last night with an eclectic shopping list that included bicycle parts and supplies for my new rubber-stamping habit, while I bathed three grubby little kids and tucked them into bed. By 8:30 pm I was tired and feeling sick, so I headed to bed, hoping I could fall asleep before the sickness got any worse.

I’m guessing the older kids and Michael stayed up late, so they’ll sleep for a while this morning. And I’m hoping that the rain will lull the younger kiddos into sleeping just a little longer than usual. I’m really enjoying my time without having to answer any questions or meet anyone’s needs other than my own. Ooooh, that sounds so selfish! I don’t mean to be selfish. I’d rather think that I’m just soaking up the moment, and when this moment is over, I’ll enjoy the next stage of the morning that will include sleepy kids with eager faces to hear me say, “Good morning!” (I forgot to say that one morning to Amelia, and she pouted and reminded me that I didn’t say “good morning” to her. I had to quickly put on my most cheerful face and say the magic words, to which she immediately brightened and returned my greeting.)

One nice thing about having some quiet time this morning is that I can ponder what we’ll do with our day. This was supposed to be our weekend for finishing up some yard projects. But the rain may well postpone those plans. So what should we do instead? Maybe we’ll clean the basement… maybe we’ll work on the kitchen… or maybe the sun will come out and we’ll be able to do our yardwork after all. Sounds like “flexibility” will be the key this weekend.

On Sunday afternoon we’ll head over to my folks’ house across town and set up our big tent for a campout in their back yard. Monday morning I’m hoping to make biscuits and gravy for everyone to enjoy. I’m already looking forward to it!

Enough chatting for now. I’m going to go refill my cup and seize the moments of solitude left in my morning.