We're either Brave or Crazy...

What an adventure I had today. (Actually Yesterday)
For the first time in a long time I woke up early and with excitement at the thought of an empty schedule. It’s been a long time since I haven’t had a busy day planned. In fact, I’ve been so busy lately that I wasn’t able to go grocery store on Monday like I usually do. Randy and I were in bed this morning when I asked him what his plans for the day were. He said that he had some paper work that he was going to do at the office. I don’t ever ask him to do this anymore, but I asked him if he would like to spend the morning with me. I told him that I could get up, make waffles for the family (I’m really getting some good use out of that new waffle maker!) then we could get everyone ready and go to the store together. We haven’t all gone to the store together in a long time. I told him that after lunch he could go on his way and do his paperwork. I was very surprised when he happily agreed to my plan.
I hopped out of bed, took a shower, got dressed and began to make waffles. I was as excited as I could be. I felt like I was getting away with something. Well, that quickly came to a halt when Randy came into the kitchen to tell me some news. His niece had just called and at the last minute her baby sitter canceled on her. Our niece Cynthia has a daughter Abby that’s 16 months old. She’s a doll, and I watched her a lot two weeks ago. She’s so easy to watch and the kids adore her, but honestly I just didn’t want to do it today. I had great plans of freedom and babysitting isn’t freedom. I knew Cynthia really didn’t have any other option so I asked Randy how long she needed a baby sitter. When he looked at me I could tell that it was going to be a long day. He said that I would have her from 9:00-6:00. I was pretty sure that I didn’t want to do it, but Randy said, “It’ll be fun. You have me here.” I had to think about it for a minute and then I decided that I would do it. She got here after breakfast and the kids were very excited to see her.
Then it was time to get the kids ready. Right before I began that my grandma called and asked if the kids would want to go to the library this morning. They usually go to story time, but it was not today. Jody just thought it would be a good day to go. I was all for that so she said she would come over soon. By this time Randy decided that he needed a 20 minute nap. Convenient I know. I said, “Hey, what about Abby and all the fun we’re going to have taking care of her?” He smiled real sly and said, “Oh, when I said WE I really meant YOU.” He told me to wake him up when my grandma left. I wanted to throw a fit about this, but I chose to be peaceful. I had a good attitude and got the kids ready and Abby fed.
I got the kids ready and when my grandma got here she had birthday presents for Joey. Then she had to play a game with Joey that he got from Christy for his birthday. Then she had to help Melody with her shoes. The whole thing was fun, but it took so long. Needless to say Randy’s 20 minute nap was more like an hour. I was glad he had the rest because he needed it.
The great thing about my grandma coming over and taking the kids was that Randy and I got to go to the grocery store with only Abby. It felt so strange that we have five kids of our own, but none of them were with us, but we had someone’s baby with us. I told Randy that while we were at the store we could pretend she was our only one. Man, having one kid is a novelty!
Okay, so we were at the store for 15 minutes when my phone rang. Since I read Aaron’s blog yesterday and was convicted about my not answering the phone/not returning calls problem I quickly answered although I was pretty sure that the person on the other end was going to need something from me. I was right. It was my sister in law Pauline (Charlie’s wife.) Here’s where this story gets exciting. I’m standing at the stationary aisle trying to process what she’s asking of me. Pauline has been trying to get a secretary job. As best as I could understand a temp agency had a job for her to do today (right away). The problem was that she didn’t have anyone to watch her kids while she worked. If you don’t know Charlie and Pauline they have 2 year old twin boys and a 1 year old boy! Again, they’re the best kids ever, but there are a lot of them! I didn’t know what to say! I surely wanted to say “Heck no! Are you crazy?” but I was pretty sure that would be the wrong thing to say. She didn’t have anyone else that could do it. Her mom was out of town. So, I told her to hold on. I looked at Randy, told him the situation and asked him if he could stay the rest of the day and help. He said he could. He said it sounded exciting. She said that she needed me right away and until 5:00. I told her that I was at the store and that I had to finish shopping then I would be at home. I ran through Wal-Mart like I was on crack. I bought all our groceries and got out of there. By the time we got to the house Pauline was already there with the boys.
Let me give you a break down of the ages of all the kids that I watched today. Joey 9, Spencer 7, Jocie 5, Melody 4, Miles 2, Zachariah 2, Jeremiah 2,
Abby 1, Obi-One 1. Ladies and gentlemen, that is 5 children ages 2 and under!
Randy and I prayed as we put up groceries that we would be cheerful givers today. We prayed that we would have good attitudes, that we would prefer one another, that we would be refreshed as we helped out our family, and that we would have the endurance that it took to watch all the kids.
We worked so well together! It was kind of exciting. It was a lot of work, but it was rewarding. All the kids were so amazing. They are so well behaved. They got along great. The only crazy thing about the day, besides having 9 kids in the house all day was the fact that we had a revolving door today! Now I will list all the people that came into my home today. Of course the regular 7 that live here, then Christy the nurse, Todd the occupational therapist, Cynthia, Abby, my grandma, Pauline, Jeremiah, Zachariah, Obadiah, Randy’s brother Michael, and Randy’s mom. That’s 18 people in and out of my house. Christy was the first to arrive at 7:45 a.m. and Cynthia was the last to leave at 8:00 p.m..
Cynthia wasn’t in any hurry to leave so she hung around the house a long time, and then Randy invited her for dinner so she ate with us. After such a long day I didn’t feel like cooking so I just decided that we would all eat cereal and toast. It felt funny to invite our guest to eat cereal with us, but she was good with the idea. She enjoyed watching our family put away so much cereal in one sitting.
It was like a never ending day. It was a good day, a rewarding day, but wow, that’s a lot of people and a ton of kids. I’m glad we did it. We were a huge help today to a couple of Mom’s. We all had great attitudes. Best of all…Randy promised me a great massage today! I will be looking forward to that! That should make up for the nap he had this morning.
Here’s a picture of ALL the kids. I hate that my digital camera is so bad on the red eye! When I tried to fix the red eye on my computer it said that no red eye was detected. I guess it was too overwhelmed with all the eyes that it would have to fix so it just lied to me and said that it couldn’t find any.
So, I guess this good day is all Aaron’s fault with his soap box post about how people should be the Kingdom of God in action and not just talk. Thanks Aaron. :) It was a good day!




Well, I was just about to publish this post when my Mom called...she made something for our family that has to be delivered tonight. It's 9:30 right now...the day of visitors continues!