Monday Monday

I can remember when I did not like Mondays. Monday morning always came to soon, and I was dead tired from a busy weekend when the morning alarm pulled me out of a deep sleep. If I had rested or played all weekend I would probably have not had such an aversion to Mondays, but because I worked all week, my weekend consisted of all the stuff that stay-at-home moms take care of during their week; going to the grocery store, shopping for kids clothes, replacing things that break around the house, paying bills, not to mention the standard housework, yard work and other non-fun stuff. I didn't have that free time to regroup and reorganize myself or the kids, so when Mondays came I was wishing for an extra night of sleep.

I can remember slapping around on the night stand in a half awake stupor, trying to quiet the buzz buzz buzz that interrupted my drowsy world. When I'd finally opened my eyes enough to see that I was running late, the adrenaline rush would catapult me from my cozy cocoon and get me up and running in a frantic rush to do everything that I should have taken care of the night before but didn't have the energy (like lay out my clothes and the kids clothes and pack the diaper bag for daycare).

I'd feed and dress the toddler and the baby, take them to daycare, peel them off of me and head for work. Of course, no morning is complete without that dose of Mommy guilt that comes with leaving my children at daycare. It begins with the babies crying Moooomeeee" and holding their chubby little arms out as I drive away, which I would think about over and over, all day, until it distracted me so that I'd have to call the daycare to make sure that everyone was still alive. I'd work all day, watching the clock slowly wind it's way towards quitting time. The moment the clock struck 5 I was outta there, heading for the daycare to gather up my little chicks to take them home, play with them, feed them, bathe them and put their sweet little chubby cheeks to bed, only to do it all over again the next day.

It was an exhausting time that taught me to trust in God and that he would provide all we would need, even if I could not imagine how he would do so. This is my verse, the one that I held on to during that time:

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future...Jeremiah 29:11

I am happy to report, I no longer have to take the kids to daycare. My oldest, the one with Down Syndrome, (he was 4 at the time) bit a daycare worker in the stomach and got kicked out! So I quit my job. That was ten years ago and I am still at home, and I don't mind getting up on Mondays.