< nocturnal >

Documenting what a typical night looks like at our house... so I don't forget.

The routine usually consists of going upstairs around 7:00 pm. Normally this is a special time shared between Joe & Jacob, and I busy myself cleaning the kitchen or just checking emails and such. Jacob loves to ride on his daddy's back up the stairs. LOTS of horseplay involved in the father/son nighttime routine. When they get up there, it's bathtime. Jacob's big thing is to lay on his back and immerse himself in the water, face peeking out of course. He cackles at how the water tickles him when he does this, and usually gets choked on the water that enters his mouth. Vicious cycle. =) He then gets out of the tub, brushes his teeth, takes his medicine and begs for "a tiny drink of water" that turns into several drinks.

Then they move into the bedroom where he puts on his pjs and settle in to read a book and then read a passage from his Mighty Warrior devotional Bible. Afterwards, Jacob gets on his knees on the side of his bed and prays this, with variations on the end nightly:

Dear God, thank you for Jesus, Mommy, Daddy, Jacob, Mamaw, Papaw, Uncle Wes, Sarah, Emma, Jenna, Granny, Falon, Jeremy, Morgan. Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep, you love me through the night and wakey in the morning light. A-MEN. Amen, Mom! I said AMEN! {then I say the same reminder that I say EVERY night, "what about thanking God for 3 things from today?"} Dear God, thank you for letting me play with my magnadoodle. Is that 1? Thank you for letting me eat pizza. Is that 2? Thank you for the beautiful world you made. AMEN.

Then he piles into bed with his 8 rabbits (Bumpy, Lumpy, Pretzel, Pete, Sam, Brownie, Amy & Music) and his "Memaw blanket" (made by Joe's grandmother 20+ year ago). He usually requests a lullaby... Swing Low Sweet Chariot, Twinkle Twinkle, etc. Then it's lights out and time to hit the sack.

Tonight, Joe was at the MTSU game with some guys from work so I had the pleasure of doing the bedtime routine. After reading the devotional, Jacob asked me if he was saved. Whew, how can you definitively answer that yes or no for someone else? I truly believe that he loves God, believes that Jesus died to save our sins... but I can't answer that question for him. We had a pretty heavy conversation about what it means to be saved. I told him that the time would come that he would know when God was speaking to his heart about becoming a Christian. That he can always come to me or dad, or talk to our pastor about it. He said, "Mom, what's the fastest way to get to church?" I said, "Why do you want to know that?" to which he replied, "So I'll know the fastest way to get to Brother Tony if I need to talk to him." =)


And finally, right before I close the door for the night....

Me: Jacob, it's time to let your brain get some rest.
Jacob: But mommy, my brain is still playing with it's toys. It's a nocturnal brain, you know...