summer 2011

summer 2011

Paul and I, all 16 kids and Ashley, Benjamin's wife...Christmas 2012

Paul and I, all 16 kids and Ashley, Benjamin's wife...Christmas 2012
family

Monday, December 28, 2009

1,101st post

Dinner. I wish I could just video our dinner table. But the older kids wouldn't let me. I also thought of taking some pictures tonight, but it makes them feel a bit invaded, and they would tease me and ask me if I was putting them on the blog. On one side of the table, on the bench side near the wall, were 8 of the kids. Paul and I and five of them sat on the chair side. Then one on each end of the table. Benjamin didn't eat with us. We had burgers and salad and sweet potato fries, plus the chocolate cupcakes with homemade frosting that Margaret made today. Jonathan wanted it to be a "candle night", so we had only dim lights and candles. Joseph played in the candles. He lit a match and stuck it in his burger. Mali ate vegetarian chili that she made herself. Sam came late and had to have everything that was already passed, passed again. Jon dropped his burger on the floor, and fussed because he wanted to pray and daddy already did, so everyone had to be quiet so Jon could pray too. Benjamin came along and scared Rosie and she peed on the floor, and Camille tried to stand in her booster seat to eat her cupcake. Benjamin did the dishwasher, Joseph swept, Sam washed the table, everyone cleared it, and Aaron is going to wash the pans.

So my life is perfect. ha. I DID go on the treadmill this afternoon, but had to cut it short because the guy down the road was plowing the across-the-street neighbor's driveway, and Rosie-the-bad-dog was barking and chasing the plow. And my kids....oh, my kids. One of them likes to be funny, and this child hurts my feelings something terrible sometimes just trying to be funny. And if I could re-live the dinner prep, when I was standing at the stove cooking 21 hamburgers, I would not have gotten so offended at this boy and told him to go to his room. I know they don't mean anything by it, but they tease me about not knowing what button to push when answering my cell phone (which IS true, but that was quite a while ago, and I have learned since).They tease me about the way I cook, that I am stuck in my ways, ect. Now, I let these kids make what they want when they want, they never have to do things "my way"....(well, I DO make suggestions.....)Anyway, so may adults in one home....I love them dearly, and don't want them to leave or anything, but it can be a bit interesting sometimes. For instance, I think dirty dishes and pans belong IN the sink. One of my daughters will come along and huff and puff about a dirty pan being in the sink. Well, dear, I put it there, because that is WHERE DIRTY PANS BELONG!!! I don't want to be just like," sorry, my-house-my-rules".....I really want there to be peace. I sincerely don't really care how things get done, I want to be able to humble myself so it goes well here. Most importantly I want to take it right inside, so I am not fuming and stomping. Even if I don't say anything, if I am offended and angry, it stinks. I must say I have plenty of opportunity to find salvation these days, surprise surprise, even with all this help that I have around here. And I am thankful, truly thankful, that I can see that there is sin in ME. Even if sometimes I don't see it right away.....God, He is good.

Camille has a book, and she wants me to read it to her.

5 comments:

mommeeof10 said...

My oldest 2 girls washed dishes by hand all yesterday, as the dishwasher is making ominous noises. They were complaining to me that everytime they thought they were done, someone else ate again and brought them more dishes. Who do they think has done the dishes by hand for months at a time before we got this dishwasher, after the previous one died? One clue, it was a female grown up who has a full time job outside the house, IE me. :)

At least the repair man will be here Wednesday. :) I'm pretty sure something is stuck in the food disposal, but just don't have the time to fix it myself again. Besides, it is still under warrantee for a few more months.

Martha said...

I appreciate your honesty and can imagine dinner at your table better than you know. Supper time around here has been rather uneventful lately and I have forgotten how to shop and cook for just four people. (My sister left the extra lasagna here after Christmas and I'm afraid it will never be gone!) My freezer is overflowing and still I keep heading to the grocery store.

Martha said...

Dishwasher... I thought that WAS the children. (We have never owned a dishwasher and that is why I have always had dishpan hands. :) Okay, not really, but my kids all know how to wash dishes by hand, and they do a pretty good job.)

So what book did you read to Camille?

16 blessings'mom said...

Martha, we got a dishwasher when we moved here from our mobile home, and I was expecting #6. I never minded washing dishes very much, but it is time consuming. I usually wash a counter-full of cups and glasses by hand every day, just to get us by between loads. We have tried the name-on-the-cup thing, it didn't work. I read Camille, "The Wheels On The Bus", three times. That means Jonny and Charlotte Claire, too.

Beth Haley said...

Our dishwasher worked for a month and then I put a baking sheet in it one day and it fell all apart on the inside. 4 years later I have no dishwasher still and I wash everything by hand. It IS time consuming, and I only have 4 people to clean up after for the time being. But... lol, my thought is, if they don't think the dirty dishes belong there, then THEY can wash em! :-) Ah, were it that easy...