All I Want For Christmas Is A Good Night's Sleep!

Yes, yes, I know my previous entry was all about not focusing on the negative... and it's still true! But I would also still like to be able to sleep for longer than a couple hours at a time - for some reason, Jacob seems to be ignoring the idea that as babies grow ( and with them, their stomachs), they gradually sleep for longer stretches at a time. He has decided this week that actually, shorter stretches are more ideal... so the newborn who was sleeping 3-4 hours at a time is, as the first month draws to a close, now sleeping only 1.5-2 hours. At night only, of course. During the day, he is sometimes content to go more than 4 hours. Now I would be happy to feed him every 1.5 hours during the day if he would sleep 4.5 hours at night! But no... this kiddo is a night owl. And his mother, who is most decidedly NOT a night owl, is exhausted! Every night I find it harder and harder to get up, and every night I get more and more frustrated. Which brings me to something I've been wanting to post on for almost 2 weeks now.

If there is one thing that having two kids is teaching me, it is that I am not capable of getting through the day on my own. Or even the first 15 minutes of the day. Or, for that matter, even the waking moment. Sure, there were times even before I had any kids that I recognized my limitations and need for God's gracious help in a situation. But now I am constantly being forced to come to terms with the fact that I can't even handle something as simple as taking a shower or eating a bowl of cereal without His grace and strength. I am consistently needing to ask God for the strength just to get the next load in the laundry or dinner on the table. Or to get up out of bed and feed our crying baby when it is the last thing I want to do. I had been thinking about this after reading Psalm 33:13-22 :

"The LORD looks down from heaven; he sees all the children of man;
from where he sits enthroned he looks out on all the inhabitants of the earth,
he who fashions the hearts of them all and observes all their deeds.
The king is not saved by his great army; a warrior is not delivered by his great strength.
The war horse is a false hope for salvation, and by its great might it cannot rescue.
Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love,
that he may deliver their soul from death and keep them alive in famine.*
Our soul waits for the LORD; he is our help and shield.
For our heart is glad in him, because we trust in his holy name.
Let your steadfast love, O LORD, be upon us, even as we hope in you."

The same day I read that passage, I came across this helpful post by Kristin Chesemore about acknowledging God in even the most mundane moments of life. She says it so well (with the help of Charles Bridges) that I won't bother to try to summarize her thoughts - go read for yourself!

"Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed." (Psalm 34:5)

And now I need to go check the mail... yes, I realize that it's almost 10:30 at night and the mail has probably been there all day... so I'm a little behind on my daily tasks...:-)


*in my case, when I don't have a chance for undistracted devotions for days or weeks on end... see another helpful post from Kristin and her link to Donald Whitney's article for thoughts on devotions and the young mother - I found these to be very freeing! By the way, since I am lately linking to it quite frequently, may I take this opportunity to highly recommend Girl Talk, a blog by Carolyn Mahaney and her 3 adult daughters. There is a tonne of great stuff to be found there!