Coffee with Kat

As noted in the title of my blog, I have to try really hard to make my family's everyday life fun.  Usually, I have the do it on purpose.  I calculate my workday, the kids drop-off times, pick-up times, and basically every single move we all make down to the nanosecond in order to accomplish everything that needs to be done each day.  So, having fun doesn't necessarily come easy for me.

My attempts to maximize every second of the day are foiled by one tiny glitch in the technical plan that is our life.  Each Tuesday and Thursday, Katherine attends Mother's Day Out.  I drop the big girls off at about 7:40, then drive to Katherine's school and have to sit and wait for the doors to open until 8:15am.  In my book, this is a colossal waste of time that could ruin my entire schedule for the turning of the world, affect the tides, interrupt the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace, or even make the world tilt ever so slightly wrong on it's axis.  There is no such thing as acceptable time wastage in my world. 

Enter the idea that I MUST make my life fun - even it it's on purpose.  I do realize that my 4 year old will only spend the majority of her time with me for this one, last year.  I love listening to her talk like Yoda - "Beautiful, I will be".  Yes, she does this all the time.  I don't know if it's a sign of intelligence, weirdness, or some side-effect of being with me too much, but it's really stinking cute.  I love high-fiving her 95 times a day and laughing at her attempts to be angry with me when she doesn't get her way.  I love taking her with me to the office and watching her sweet-talk candy and prizes out of all my co-workers. 

So, I have succeeded in turning the colossal time wastage twice a week into the best coffee with Mom time you could ever imagine.  I pack coffee for me and coffee milk and some breakfast for Katherine, and we sit in the van outside the school and visit.  We drink our coffee and talk about whatever she comes up with that day. Or, I take my make-up along to save even more time my beautifying myself in the rear view mirror while Katherine puts sparkle shadow on her eyes.  Mainly, I just sit and spend time with my youngest daughter while I have the chance.  This is a gift that I never knew I would enjoy so much.

Since the Daddy is often home now when he is off duty from the Fire Department, I allow him the opportunity to spend some of this precious time with the little princess, and I'm happy to say that he takes the time to treasure his last, tiny baby-girl moments with Katherine.  She doesn't do a single cute thing that he doesn't comment on how adorable she still is.  He even got a half-asleep "high-five, Daddy" this morning when he covered her with a blanket in our bed after he got up early to leave for work. 

In striving to make our life fun, I rely greatly on my Heavenly Father to teach me how to exercise patience.  This allows my family and myself to experience the true joy that only comes from the Father.


Colossians 1:10-12 (New International Version)

¹⁰And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, ¹¹being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully ¹²giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you^[a] to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.