After Tyrion was born, I found myself going longer and longer without opening my Bible or journal and even going days without taking a minute to pray. I know having a newborn makes keeping a regular schedule for anything difficult at best. Sleep deprivation, feeding every few hours, trying to spend time with Davis and Matt and keep up with housework made a lot of other things slide down a few spots on the priority list.
Now that Tyrion is sleeping through the night and Davis has started school again, I'm getting more rest and am beginning to get back into a more regular routine. I no longer have trouble getting up before Davis since Tyrion typically wakes up sometime between 5:30 and 6. Matt typically leaves for work right around the time I'm getting up with Tyrion and on school days, I wake Davis up at 7 so that gives me an hour to an hour and a half with just the baby and I awake.
During this quiet time with just Tyrion and I, I obviously have to change him and feed him but since he takes a bottle at this time, it's easy for me to sit on the couch with my coffee while I feed him. For a while, I found myself checking Facebook during while I was sitting there.
I realized that if I could scroll through Facebook while feeding the baby, then I could just as easily read a book or use the YouVersion Bible app on my phone. The main problem was that I didn't have things set up to make it easy to choose time with God over wasting time on social media.
To make things easier for myself, I chose the area where I most often feed Tyrion first thing in the morning, the couch in the living room. Then I found a bag I wasn't using that had enough space for all my devotional books, my Bible, my journal and even a bunch of pens since I often write in multiple colors. I placed this bag right next to the couch so I wouldn't have to go hunting around for things when I get up in the morning.
Now it's easier to choose time with God over wasting time on Facebook or Pinterest. I get up whenever Tyrion wakes up, change him, make my coffee and a bottle for him and go sit on the couch to feed him. Since I've already placed the things I need within easy reach from where I'm sitting, it's easy to grab my Bible to read or my prayer journal to set it on the couch next to me and write a few things down while I sit with Tyrion in the quiet.
What I do varies from day to day. Sometimes Tyrion is too wiggly for me to be able to write anything down so I just read or pray while we sit. On days when he's calmer, I try to jot down the things I'm praying for so I can look back to see when a certain prayer is answered. I recently started my second year doing a group Bible study through Community Bible Study, so most mornings I try to get through the daily reading and questions that are part of that. I'm also reading through two different books on prayer by Stormie Omartian The Power of a Praying Wife and The Praying Woman's Devotional so I try to read some of at least one of them each day.
I also keep whatever books I'm reading in this area so if I've finished my Bible study questions and I've read through the books on prayer and written in my prayer journal I always have both my Bible that I can read and another book to read as well.
By the time I have to wake Davis up for school, I'm feeling much more relaxed and awake which definitely helps our mornings go more smoothly. Davis is not a morning person so when I'm more relaxed, he has an easier time waking up and getting ready for school.
How do you start your morning? Do you wake up before your kids or with them?