Thanks J and M

Boy was I tired.

I rushed out of work to get there by 3. Once I arrived, I watched a pretty happy couple grab their bags and skitter out the door. The husband was so excited he tried to put his wife's purse over head instead of her shoulder. Once they were safely off, I turned to their 3 oldest kids, present in the living room, knowing that 2 more were napping upstairs. We played with little sponges shaped like bugs. There was a brief moment of correction when I learned the oldest had lied to his sister about something I'd said. I heard the updates on a recent birthday and a cast removal. The oldest girl played her recorder for me and one of her brothers played a tin whistle. They marveled over my husbands new computer and changed the wallpaper on my cell phone. Number 4 in line kept coming downstairs when he was supposed to be napping. After 3 attempts to put him down again, I gave up and he joined the rest. My husband arrived around that time and we watched a 3 stooges episode. I then woke the baby (who saw me and promptly displayed the shoes she'd slept in) and we all went for a walk to the neighbors. We were supposed to just pay a hello-house call, but ended up staying for a half hour. The whole time was a tussock of chatting with the neighbor's mom and keeping my eye on the two youngest ones, the baby constantly calling to me "Kari, come on!" and making a break for the door. The 3 boys got absorbed in an elaborate lego machine while the girl ran off in her high-heeled purple flip-flops with her best friend. The toddler kept screaming "I'm not a baby anymore!" That was our cue to go. It was like herding cats to get them back toward home. Once there, there were a few different dinner orders. The older kids pressed in from all sides, measuring their height against my back and shoulders, while I called at them to beware the hot soup pots I was stirring. It was a test of wills with the baby to get her to eat her dinner, but the cheering crowd of siblings won her over every time she took a bite. It was made clear I served the kids way to much, and it was also made clear they prefered chips, cheese and sour cream to the wonderful soup mom had left behind. I left the dishes to do after the kids were down and joined the fray in the living room for rough housing and human pyramids. 7 or 8 times someone thought they got hit in the eye only to rethink it the second they heard one of their siblings laugh. A chair threw all 3 brothers onto the floor and fell on top of them at one point, and they all emerged screaming that they wanted to do it again. I brushed the oldest daughter's hair before bed. The baby kept calling to me from wherever she'd toddled in the room only to wave once she got my attention. More herding cats to get them upstairs, and it was bedtime stories and prayer before finally commanding that heads be on pillows before the lights were out. I scratched backs and tucked in stuffed animals, then headed downstairs to start on the dishes and pick up the mess that had been made that day. I set the table and prepared what I could of the next morning's breakfast. Now I'm in bed, writing an account of another day that should, but the world's standards, have made me want to return to my well-ordered, structured life without the 5 kids.

Are you kidding?


On a phenomenally fun camping trip I recently went on, I was asked what Tolkienian race I'd like to be. One person said a wizard because they could come back from the dead. Another said they'd prefer the elves because they have good eyesight and can walk on snow. My husband said he'd want to be a dwarf for the beard. When the question was posed to me, I paused, then answered.

"A Hobbit," I said.

"Why?" the others chorused.

"Because I just want to have a family, live my life, then die and go be with Christ."

These 5 little 'nieces and nephews' of mine run me ragged every time I'm here. Sometimes they've lied to me. Sometimes they've cried rather than listen to me in their parents' absence. Sometimes they criticize the way I care for them. Sometimes they jump on my back without asking or step on my toes or hurt themselves. Sometimes they're just stubborn.

I still just want to have a family. =)

Thanks to these 5 little ones' mom and dad for giving me these days to spend with their kids, then sitting up way past everyone's bedtime to talk with me and Stephan about life and godliness. You're whole family is a treasure!

(and M - praying for your time away!)

...

(and J - praying for you while you're wife is away...please call us if you need food.)