I've written before about Joshua's love of routine.
I am a fairly laid-back person. I wasn't always this way, but then I had Joshua, and my neat and everything-all-mapped-out world kind of flew out the window.
And that was okay, because life with Joshua was awesome. And then I had Holly, and adding her to our family was amazing! I LOVED having a little girl and I embraced all things girlie. I got to do all the things with Holly that I never really got to do with my own Mom. I was still able to be fairly organized, at least for me, and got everywhere I needed to be pretty much on time and with both kids intact.
And then I got pregnant with Logan...ON PURPOSE...and people asked us WHY we were having a third child, because we already had a boy and a girl. Seriously, people? MYOB. Logan added so much joy and laughter to our family. I'm so glad we had him! But, after he was born, I lost what little control I thought I had...and it was okay, because life with Logan was so fun. He was a ball of energy and in constant motion...ALL BOY...and that meant dirt and stink and bugs and snakes and HE WAS SO LOUD. If he was awake, he was making noise. But a wise person once told me that if I could have 3 kids, I could have 30...because when you have that 3rd child, you go from man-to-man...to zone...and that after they out-number you, you just need to hang on and enjoy the ride. I'm lookin' at you, Kelly Stamps.
And then I got pregnant with Clark...ON PURPOSE...and people thought we had lost our minds. And he was born under such dangerous medical circumstances (for both of us), and then survived a cancer diagnosis at the age of two. Even tho I would've liked to have had a couple more children, after all of that, I just felt like our family was complete. Clark has added a spirit of humbleness and gratefulness to our family, because we've seen how things can change on a dime because of health issues. We've learned that everything is out of our control, and we are thankful for each and every day. So thankful. And we have tried to embrace the joy that each stage of parenting has brought us...because we feel blessed to be in this position. Not just with Clark, but with all of our children. Having Clark just made us realize it even more.
God has been so good to our family.
I didn't intend to go into all of THAT. My point was that what little organizational skills I had and whatever brain cells I had were lost and/or fell out of my head when I had my younger two boys. I have basically just tried to hang on for dear life for the past 23 years or so!
But where I LOST my routine, Joshua picked it up. He schedules EVERYTHING. He loves calendars and planners, and he will have every day scheduled...sometimes to the minute. His planner will list things like "work-out x3"...which means he will work-out THREE TIME in ONE day.
And things like, "quiet time x6" means he schedules time with God SIX TIMES in ONE day.
He schedules time with God.
SIX TIMES in a day.
Wow.
And people feel sorry for him.
Really?
I am not a slave to Joshua's schedule, but consistency calms him. If I know we're going to have a flexible day or week, I try to prepare him as best I can. Joshua is not a fan of things that just "pop up."
While we were in Texas, Jim got up and made breakfast for the whole family every day. And Joshua loved it. Typically, Joshua's breakfast schedule at home is Monday: blueberry muffins, Tuesday: left-over blueberry muffins, Wednesday and Thursday: pop-tarts, Friday: some sort of muffins, Saturday: Jim and I make a "big breakfast" of biscuits and gravy, bacon and eggs...stuff like that. And on Sundays we have cinnamon rolls (he calls them Sunday rolls).
It's not like this every week...but it's like this most weeks. I try to tell him the night before if I'm going to make something different. Eating the same thing in the mornings seems to also calm his digestive system...because when things get too different, his stomach gets all nervous...and ain't nobody got time for that.
We got home from Texas on Thursday night. My goal was to sleep as late as I could on Friday, but Jim woke me up at 7 when he went to run. UGH. I heard Joshua come downstairs 3 different times, mumble under his breath, and go upstairs. He finally fixed himself pop-tarts, but he wasn't happy about it.
On Saturday, I remember Jim leaving early to run, but I went back to sleep. I woke up around 9 and it was glorious! The reason I woke up was because I heard Jim and Joshua talking in the kitchen. Apparently, Joshua had come down three times, and had gone back upstairs. The last time, he was stepping LOUDLY up the stairs.
When I got up, Joshua had to tell me alllll about it. I said, "well, Joshua...you know, Dad made a big breakfast every morning in Texas, and we are still kind of on Christmas vacation...so we just took a break from our routine here at home. We'll try to get back with our traditions next week."
Joshua said, "yeah...back with our TRAND-ditions...but are we gonna have CINNAMON ROLLS TOMORROW?"
We had such a great time on our Christmas break. It's hard to get back in to the routine of life...but it's a good thing, too.
Because life is good. And life is hard.
And life is precious.
"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven." Ecclesiastes 3:1
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