Daily Life: Morning

Before I blog about our morning, I need to follow up on the last post by commenting that I will have an appt. with the school counselor and Jasmine's teacher sometime next week. I sent the forms for the last two years that were filled out at Shands detailing the brain malfunction and the problems it causes Jasmine. I stapled them right to the daily chart that comes home. I'd sent them at the beginning of the year. Now that the teacher knows Jasmine maybe it will make more sense.

Daily Life: Morning

We don't have a large number of children, in fact, three less than what we had in GA because Jeff was still with us and we had three foster children, one of which was Jasmine of course. At the time they were all elementary age and below. So 7 under
12. Still not as many as some of you. And only four at this time. But none the less, I'm going to share how we do things here on a daily basis.


Life starts at about 5:20 here. Everyone is up and moving. I'm not a morning person by nature but I'm getting used to it.

Sometimes someone will get up earlier if they have a school assignment they didn't finish.
Such as Jessica who had to finish a poster for Mole Day today. I really, really thought that a mole was an animal or someone who infiltrates an organization but it's a number or equation or something. So chemistry class is having a mole day party today with soda, chips and an experiment. Unfortunately there is a pep rally scheduled for the same time because of a game tonight and Jessica has to play at the rally with the band so she may miss the party.

Adam runs on a whole different schedule. He is up at 4 a.m. and that's when he does his homework time. The others do it in the evening.





Everyone gets their own breakfast. They have to have milk and fruit. They can also have toast, cereal, poptarts, left overs, whatever appeals to them. Jasmine is learning to be independent in the morning by making her own toast. We don't let her try to pour milk yet. Those gallon jugs are pretty heavy. Adam washes the dishes, sweeps the floors and wipes the counters since he leaves well after the others.



Devotions start at 5:50 a.m. We used to spend a half hour together but now that it's so early we only spend 15 minutes together. You can say alot in 15 minutes.


On Monday and Wednesdays we read the teen devotion book "Never Ask Delilah for a Trim" followed by a Bible story. On Tuesday and Thursdays we read the "green book" followed by a Bible story. On Friday's we read Randy's "Heaven for Kids." And we read a couple of pages from a chapter book.


Everyone takes turns reading on green book and heven days because we have several copies. Jessica reads a passage from the Bible and then the kids read around in a circle, even Jasmine, who is also usually eating.



At the end of devotions I ask "What does this mean for you today?" That's a really important part because otherwise they can just listen with brains in neutral and walk away with nothing. Somedays everyone has a lot to say. Other times the reading doesn't grab anyone. At times they will disagree with the author of the green book. The heaven books has been interesting. I am rereading the Left Behind series right now. I started by reading the three prequel books that I'd never read before and one of them has several scenes that take place in heaven so it's been interesting to see how Jerry & Tim's views differ from Randy's. (I have had several chances to talk to Jerry and Randy but I don't believe I've ever talked to Tim more than saying "hi" at a book signing. He'd probably be way over my head anyway.)























Then Ty, Jessica and Rick leave between 6:10 & 6:15. Rick drops them at their bus stop on his way to work. It's only a couple of blocks but he goes right by it. The bus comes at 6:18 and gets to the school at 6:30--an hour before school starts. But that bus picks up kids at the highschool who transfer on to another school such as the alternative school or the tech school for kids who just aren't quite making it in the regular high school and want to learn a trade like construction or welding.



When they leave, I bring up my computer and check e-mail and log in to blogger. This is my mess around time. (And this is my messy desk. If it's clean, it's because I don't have any writing projects going. Right now I'm on deadline for the Just for Me: My Family book--IF YOU HAVE girls ages 6-12, I still need some help. Go to the girl's blog HERE and back to the Oct 7 post--and for my Living with Teens article on the Cult of Celebrity.)

Jasmine gets dressed and usually eats more.

Why is it that this always happens no matter how many times I open the microwave and stir it?????




At 6:45 Jasmine and I leave to walk down to her bus stop. It's not quite .4 mile.



During this time Adam cleans the bathroom, changes into his school clothes and then practices his saxophone for 1/2 hour. He leaves at 7:35 for his bus.



At this time I finish up goofing around on computer, walk on treadmill and then start my writing projects for the day. My laptop is on a book shelf in front of my treadmill so I can watch a movie while I walk but I can't hear it so the subtitles are on. I got rid of two movies last week. I could never tell what the people were saying in some parts but when it was spelled out in the subtitles, it wasn't pretty.

So, that's our morning routine. How about you guys?