morning has broken

Lately Clay and I have taken to waking up at 5:30 in the a.m. to get an early start on the day. In the middle of summer in Missouri it is the best part of the whole day and it helps us get energized, spend some time together, and get a lot of stuff done while the kids are still sleeping. I don't think I ever discovered the beauty of early summer mornings until I took a job on feed crew in college at the Darr Ag farm. On those mornings I actually had fun mucking the stallions' stalls, watering and feeding the show cattle and playing with the two farm foals. It was a great start to the day.

And now, four years later, I'm rediscovering the joy... and hardship... of early mornings. I often find myself cuddled up cozily in my blankets trying not to remember the proverb:

How long will you slumber, O sluggard? When will you rise from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to sleep— So shall your poverty come on you like a prowler, And your need like an armed man.
- Proverbs 6:9-11

Not that I expect getting up early to work with the horses will keep away our poverty.... at least not yet, until I become this phenomenal big time trainer.... But at any rate. After Clay makes me a cup of coffee and I somehow manage to pull my work clothes on and step into the fresh air I feel like a brand new person. It may be making me addicted to coffee but my Gram tells me coffee is good for you so I don't sweat it.

I have to admit I wouldn't be so eager to get up in the mornings if I didn't usually use the time to work with the horses. There's nothing quite like an early morning gallop in the dew soaked fields.


Or an early morning scratch before putting all that tack on...