Back to Bed...

It's been a strange week at the Orona house. Our two and a half year old has chosen to adopt the sleeping habits of a newborn the past few nights. Monday night (or Tuesday morning rather) he decided to wake up at 1:15 ready to start his day. He finally succombed to his need for sleep around 4:00 and was up bright and early at 6:30 in the morning. We assumed the noise of the storm woke him up. Tuesday was a bit better- no thunder. But he was ready to go at 5:45 am. Last night, he crawled into our bed at 4:15. Some parents may shrug their shoulders as if to say, "welcome to life with a toddler". But for Fernando and I, who have been blessed with a little boy who has slept until about 7:30 am since he was 4 months old, this is an abrupt change and one we cannot figure out how to remedy. Each night it grows increasingly frustrating. Especially when all attempts to help him fall back to sleep fail miserably. As a parent, and a pregnant one at that, there are few things as frustrating as leaning over the side rail of a toddler bed (or climbing into it) at 2:00 in the morning trying to soothe a little boy who refuses to give in to sleep. At 4:15 this morning, I found myself in this exact predicament- again. Tears of exhaustion began to well up in my eyes when something dawned on me.

I started to wonder if I have ever made God feel this same way and ever so subtly, the Holy Spirit answered..."yes". I began to think of all the times in my life when I've woken up in "the darkness" and thought to myself, if only I could get up and start doing something, it would all be better. If I could take action and start moving then the sun would come up. And God says to me, "just rest". I so often struggle with giving up control and do everything in my power to change my circumstances when all I need to do is close my eyes and rest- knowing that God will take care of everything in His time.

Darkness brings such fear and uncertaintanty. It's at those times when Satan chooses to bring the thunder. He knows our weaknesses and that, if he can just get our attention and cause us to be restless, we will do just enough to get in the way of God's work in our lives. But the Lord is telling us, that if we just get "back to bed" and rest in Him, the sun will come up a lot sooner. That doesn't mean that we won't have those "nights", that seem to last forever, when we just need to crawl into His arms and feel His embrace or be able to look up and know that our Father is right there beside us. But only in the darkness can we truly know what it means to rest...

When we come to God as a Father, while we must remember that He is Lord of heaven and earth, which obliges us to come to him with reverence as to the sovereign Lord of all; we are blessed to be able to come to Him with confidence, as one able to defend us from evil, and to supply us with all good. Knowing full well that He will embrace us, scoop us up, and lovingly carry us back to bed.

Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest." -Matthew 11:28 (NLT)

Life With a Two Year Old

Every day is a new adventure when you're the parent of a toddler. Toddlers are energetic, unpredictable, curious, and VERY resourceful. I am beginning to believe that having a two year old can be likened to having a miniautre neanderthal running wild through your home. Some days I can handle it. Others, I cannot. This has been one of those days...

I'm not sure what set the day off on the wrong foot. My gut tells me that it had something to do with Daniel bounding into the bedroom just after 6:00 a.m. singing the theme song to Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Or it could be the fact that simple tasks such as putting on your child's socks now require the use of an octagon and a referee. Whatever the cause, I knew very quickly today would be a long day. As I was wearily making waffles at 7:00 am, I found my son hard at work organizing his magnetic alphabet letters... in the dog's water bowl. It only took about 30 minutes for the letters to be removed and placed on a paper towel to dry. The fact that Daniel was arranging the letters by color certainly helped to expedite the process.
















Can't wait to see what the rest of the day brings...