is it really quiet in here?

Almost...Paul is tucking Charlotte Claire in. Evelyn went to bed with a book. The three little school kids, Suzanne, Sonja K., and Jonathan are all snuggled in and sleeping...and Miss Camille is sleeping too. Benjamin is doing some laundry after finishing his after dinner bowl of cereal (some of these big boys are just bottomless pits it seems)....Mirielle, Joseph, Aaron, Mali, Samuel, Margaret, and Kathryn went to the youth meeting. Rosie is down for the night. I know, she is not a child, but jeepers she sure acts like one. I was passing out gumdrops for the kids tonight, and she was right there, all hopeful and innocent.

Mirielle made lasagna today. The house smelled like Pizza Hut for a few hours, and it is such a good feeling to have that dinner in the oven. We served it with tossed salad, and it was good! She made two large glass pans of it, and there is some left over, yay.

I did lie down for a bit this afternoon....afternoon naps always sound so good, but....by the time I actually fell asleep, I woke up and looked at the time, and knew I should be getting up....so I got up feeling groggier than when I started out.....but just the feeling of snuggling down in my comfy bed is so alluring, I can't resist once in a while. And Sam made me a wonderful cup of coffee after I got up, while I was folding laundry. So dinner was in the oven, I was having coffee, Emily had four of the girls, it was raining...it was pleasant. I like to stop and grab those moments, consciously enjoy them.

Camille was grumpy for a while this afternoon. She does this thing where she absolutely cannot walk....she crawls after me whining....or she follows me around holding onto a handful of my skirt, saying, "I want you, I want you..." so sooner or later I sit down with her....this afternoon she was all wrapped up in a blanket and I rocked her, she almost fell asleep. It was so nice to sit there rocking a small child....

Having lots and lots of kids is a huge suffering in many ways. The sleeplessness, year after year...the physical toll of pregnancies....the wear and tear on the house, the messy vehicles, the diapers and laundry and things that they put down the toilet....the clothes they grow into and out of.....the toys and small pieces and collections and fads and needs for batteries....the insurance stuff and dr appointments and dentist bills and the braces, which are thousands of dollars and take millions of appointments, emergency room visits...and of course the mental toll, worrying about them and wondering if we are doing the right thing half the time....Oh, I could write a whole page about the sufferings.....but the rewards outweigh the sufferings a hundred-fold, or a million-fold.

Some of the wonderful things about having lots and lots of kids:

The way they sit around the dinner table every night and fool around. The other night I asked Sam if he was the Narrator, because he was sort of ...well, he was narrating what was going on. He said, "At that point, I realized that I was indeed the Narrator." It was so so funny.

The way the older ones nurture the younger ones. Benjamin calls Camille, "Little Dog"...and when he comes in and scoops her up and says, "How are you doing, Little Dog?"...it is just sweet.

Tonight one of the older ones had a little fit because he/she misunderstood what his/her siblings was saying about something, and screamed at them and stomped to his/her room. I went and talked to this child, and when I returned to the kitchen, Samuel was so concerned.....and they were all apologizing to this one who got so upset. The one who got upset also apologized, and it is just so nice to see the way they truly care for each other....

They text me alot. I like that. It is nice they think of me, and I love when they want my opinion on something.

Then of course there are all the littler kids. They amuse me by the hour. Jonathan likes to wear just his undies around...today Joseph went to pick Mali up from cross-country practice, and Jonathan put on this robe that was way too small, and went with him...Jon loves when Daddy makes him paper airplanes. Paul looks the designs up on some online site, and tries them out. He found one that works like a dream, and Jonathan was so delighted that his planes flew so well tonight.

I love when Suze reads to the little girls.

Pretty soon, all seven of those older kids are going to be clamoring back into the livingroom, all talking at once, and probably having some snacks...my quiet time will be over, but....okay, they are home....