A Glimpse into our Daily Life

     There hasn't been any earth shattering news around here, so I thought I'd do a post of the mundane of the Donley family!  You know, "a day in the life of..."  So, here goes....

     Reece and I always get up first around 6:45.  We discovered awhile back, that when there's absolutely NO wind, we can get in Channel 8!  Woo-hoo!  And at 7 am, Curious George is on :-)  My kids have been Curious George fans since they were itty-bitty.  We have most of the books and, even at 8 years old, the twins still enjoy listening to them.  So, between 7 and 8, the girls trail in.  We all eat breakfast at various points during this time.  Usually at 8, the TV is turned off and doesn't get turned back on until the next morning.  We're just not big TV watchers.  Most mornings, I have students coming over at 9 for tutoring, so the kids all get clothes changed, teeth brushed, etc, before my students arrive.  I also make sure Jeff is up and at 'em before 9.  He works 2nd and has a hard time winding down, so his bedtime is around 2 am or so.  Anyway, while I tutor, the kids play.  When its warm (or even when its not!) the girls usually go outside first thing to visit all their cats.  Originally, we had 8, but due to various different accidents involving vehicles and coyotes, we're now down to about 4 or so.  After tutoring is over I'll do a few chores, make the kids do a few chores and start dinner.  We eat at noon and Reece goes to school at 1.  Jeff leaves for work at 1:45 and the girls and I do school while Reece is gone.  Elisa's very fast, so we are almost always done by 3.  After Reece gets home, we eat a snack and most everyone plays outside (including me!).  Yesterday, I worked on hauling cow manure to my garden from the loafing shed.  I'm working on getting my gardens ready for next spring.  Sometimes we run farm errands at various points of the day.  By "farm errands", I mean picking up my father-in-law and/or Jeff and taking them somewhere else.  During bean harvest a few weeks ago, I ran the combine some while my father-in-law took the semi to the elevator.  Once milo harvest starts (soon, I hope!)  I'll be doing that again and then as soon as we start stripping cotton, I'll be out in the cotton field running the boll buggy and module builder.  The kids, of course, always tag along for all of this!  As farm kids, they're VERY use to the interruptions and changes in routine that farming can bring.  Anyway, back to my day.... so, we eat supper around 6 or so and then we'll play/pick up the livingroom/clear the table.  Finally, we have baths, Bible story, prayer time and bed!  In the fall and winter, they are in bed by 8 pm, but in the summer, its usually 9 pm.  We have a very strict bedtime routine that has been the same since the twins were babies and we rarely deviate!  A lot of times, in addition to the Bible story, we'll read a chapter out of a chapter book.  We recently finished an abridged version of "Huck Finn".  Several years ago, we spent 9 months and read through the "Little House on the Prairie" series.  Anyway, my day sounds rather boring when its all typed out, but it sure seems busy to us!!

Zzzzzzzz....................

     That is what Reece has been doing 9-11 hours a night for the last 10 nights!!!!!!!  On the Friday after my last post, a few ladies came to my house and we prayed over Reece and anointed him with oil.  God heard our prayers and answered in a most positive way!!!  We gave up on the prescription meds and I was at my wits end with his sleeping.  Earlier in the week, I started dinking around with melatonin again, but Reece still wasn't sleeping much.  After our earnest prayer session, evenings and nights have been WONDERFUL!!!  It is soooooo amazing to see God work like that so immediately and in such a way that it gave the other ladies goosebumps.  (I was just so happy to have my energy back :-)  I've been praising God nightly for this continuing miracle. 
     Overall, Reece is a happier kid during the day, but we still have our hurdles to overcome.  I feel like our discipline needs to be stepped up a notch.  I think that, too often, we let bad behavior and disobedience slide with him and blame things on "the autism."  The Lord is very clear on using spanking as a means of training for children and it seems to be the only thing that Reece understands when administered after a bad deed or behavior.  I have been doing a much better job of keeping wooden spoons (our rod of choice) around the house and using them in a very calm, concise manner.  For instance, I'll tell him (very calmly), "Reece, you disobeyed me.  I told you to put your socks on and you did not.  Now you get 2 spankings."  I'll count out the two (or whatever number we deem necessary for the offense) and then we move on.  And, you know what?  Reece complies very happily after that and life is good :-) 
     I know this isn't a very long post (normally, I'm much windier :-)  but, its 10:30 and we have the pumpkin patch awaiting us tomorrow, so I'm thinking I better head to bed. 
    I'll leave you with a parting quote from Elisa.....

"One of the things I love most about my life is killing chickens!"

Ha, ha, ha!!  That's a farmgirl for ya..... :-)