The long way to school

The distance between school and our house is less than a mile.  It should take less than 5 minutes to deliver Patrick to school.  However, as every parent knows, school traffic makes the commute twice as long, on a good day. 

I consider it one of the luxuries of Stay-At-Home-Motherhood that I can deal with the drop-off traffic (pick-up taxes my patience) without rushing.  I also don't have to figure out the best time to leave the house to avoid traffic or the best drop-off spot.  I just leave when I want and we take the long way to school. 

And the gift of waiting in line behind the parade of SUVs is time with my three littles.  Every morning as we wait our turn, I pray over my kids.  We pray together.  It's a simple prayer that reinforces three important things: 1) It's God's way, not our way; 2) I love them and God loves them; and 3) Mom needs God's help too (patience please Lord!).

The best thing is that they remind me when I forget.  Lauren grunts and slaps her chubby little hands together at the same spot every day.  If I forget, Keith usually remembers after we have already dropped Patrick off but we pray belatedly any way. 

Most mornings I pray and some mornings Patrick prays but it usually follows this path:
1) We thank him for his gifts and blessings
2) We pray for our sins and ask for forgiveness
3) We tell him what we want (wisdom, strength, fun)
4) We pray for those around us in need (e.g., babies without mommies and daddies and mommies and daddies without babies).

And all you have to do is ask, we will pray for you too!