Haste Makes Waste

“Um, Hi.” It was CrazyMom on the phone and I could tell that something was not right. I was driving home from F.G. and Buddy’s soccer game with five kids and two grandparents in the car. CrazyMom had beaten me home from a soccer practice and was supposed to be getting dinner on the table.

“You know how GranpaF said he wanted to buy dinner. Maybe you should go ahead and do that,” she said.

That morning we had been in Hocking Hills camping with GrandmaF and GrandpaF. We made it back to our house with 1 hour to spare before we had to head out to a soccer game and a practice. GrandpaF had offered to buy dinner after the game to make things easier, but CrazyMom and I thought we would be able to get the kids to bed earlier after our big weekend if we ate at home.

So in that 60 minutes of unpacking, taking showers, and getting the kids in uniforms we added into the mix cooking dinner. Everything was going according to plan until CrazyMom got home with the two girls from practice to find the house full of smoke. It turns out that a burner had been left on under dinner, on high.

After several days with all of the windows open day and night, we finally called our insurance company. After days and days of professional cleaning, the smell has subsided and we are optimistic that by the time all the work is completed, the smell will be gone.

Oh yeah. Turning the burner off was not the only thing we forgot to do that fateful night. We also forgot that K.D. and LittleFoot had a soccer game in addition to F.G. and Buddy’s game. Oh, well. I guess you can’t remember everything.

Rainbow in the Sky

We all just ran out in the drizzle to take a picture of this rainbow in the sky.  It was fun that you could see both ends of the rainbow.  If you look close, you can see that there was actually a double rainbow.

Camping at Hocking Hills

A couple of weeks ago GrandmaF and GrandpaF came out to see us and we went camping in Hocking Hills. The leaves were turning, which made the whole area delightful. Also, the days were warm while the nights were cool. It was the perfect fall weather for camping. We had a lot of fun while camping, but one of the highlights was when GrandmaF and GrandpaF headed back home . . . in the RV! One less thing to get rid of before heading to Africa!

Rift Valley Academy Video

Since some of you may not be on our email list, I wanted to share a video that I shared with the list. Africa Inland Mission (our mission agency) has this video on their website about Rift Valley Academy. This is the school in Kenya that, Lord willing, we will be teaching at in less than a year. In just 7 minutes it does a great job of not only giving you a feel for RVA, but also for seeing the impact that the school is having in enabling the work of missionaries in Africa.

Click here for the RVA video.

Click here to check out RVA's website.

I keep thinking that the excitement about the move to Kenya may fade a little here in our home, but it has not.  It seems like it is hard to string together two hours in a row where the move is not mentioned.  It is a fun time for the family as we dream about the future.

The Breaking of Bathroom Use Policies

“Why don’t you take a little rest when you go up to change?” suggested CrazyMom. I had just gotten home from work last night (Friday) and it had been a long week for me. CrazyMom knew I was dog-tired and, as always, was looking out for me.

So I did.

Well, the rejuvenated me then stayed up too late. But I knew that I would be able to sleep in on Saturday morning because the first of three soccer games was not until 9am (sleeping in is a relative term, I know).

Because of our big family we have certain fair use policies about when and under what circumstances certain bathrooms can be used. I would like to note that these policies state that if a child has to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, our master bath is off limits.

But rules are meant to be broken.

When K.D. needed to make a run to the bathroom this morning at 6am, the kids’ bathroom was already in use – yes, we have lines for the bathroom even before it is time for the kids to get up. He hung out as long as he could, but then the situation went to code red. According to policy, the next bathroom that should be investigated for availability is down on the main floor, but since the situation was now critical, K.D. burst into our room. So much for sleeping in.

While I am excited about our upcoming move to Kenya to teach, it is moments like these that make me think about some of the lifestyle changes that lie ahead for us – like moving from a home with four toilets to a home with two. Maybe we should also sign up to be dorm parents. Surely there would be more bathrooms in a dorm.

Winning First Dibs on the Leftovers

Ah, the leftover meal. We pull everything out of the fridge, line it up on the counter, fix plates like short order cooks, and then pop them one-by-one into the microwave. There are two main issues that we face in this whole process. The first is that if you heat a plate in the microwave for 90 seconds, then by the time the 7th kid’s plate goes into the microwave, so much time has already passed that the first kid is already back in line waiting to have another plate of food warmed. This can make for an experience worse then cooking.

But that is not the real issue. The real issue is that the kids who are first through the line take all of the good stuff much to the dismay of the kids later in the line. So CrazyMom solved the problem tonight by having a drawing. Yes, the kids drew numbers from a hat to see the order in which they would go through the line.

And the winner was . . . Buddy. Here is Buddy with a plate full of the best of the leftovers.

An “Adequate” Education

“I believe that [Miss Bookworm’s] educational experience will be adequate to meet State Standards,” states the recent letter we received from the Executive Director of Business and School Improvement for our local school district. As a family that home schools some of our children, we are required to notify our local school district each year of our decision to home school and to provide a curriculum outline. Then we always get a response that the education we are providing our children at home is “adequate.” It makes me chuckle a little since I suspect that they think that no homeschooling family in our district can provide an education that is better than adequate. I am not complaining, however. I am pleased that we have the right to educate each of our children in the way that we think is best for them – including picking a writing teacher from Canada, having a heavy dose of two-column proofs in Geometry, and taking a literature-based approach in history. We love homeschooling - even if it is only seen as “adequate” by the state.

Lame Tooth Fairy

"Hey, Anna! Did the Tooth Fairy come last night?" Buddy just asked Anna at breakfast.

"No," replied Anna. "The Tooth Fairy sometimes takes two days to come."

Yes, Anna lost a tooth last night. Yes, she put it under her pillow for the Tooth Fairy. Yes, we forgot about it.

Maybe the Tooth Fairy will be able to remember tonight. But if the Tooth Fairy forgets again, at least Anna understands how things work in large families.

Yes, We’ve Got Problems

When I sat down in church today, a 5-year-old girl I knew was sitting in the pew in front of me.

“Hi! How are you?” I asked.

“I fell on my scooter yesterday and I got these,” she replied pointing to her legs that were stretched out in front of her on the pew. Visible through her white tights were two band aids on her left knee and one on her right.

“Band aids! Oh, my! Were you bleeding?”

“Yes, and I also got this,” she said as she held out her arm to show another scratch on her wrist like it was a trophy.

“That looks pretty bad. Was your mom watching you when you were scootering?” I asked. Of course, I already knew the answer. I know how large families work and she was the youngest of four kids.

“No, she wasn’t there!”

“How about your dad? Was he watching you while you were scootering?” I was focusing hard to keep a straight face.

“No, he wasn’t there either.”

“So neither of your parents was there?”

“No, and I had to go inside to get them and it hurt because I had to bend my knees.”

“Well, let me tell you something. We had a scootering accident at our house yesterday and there were not any parents outside either,” I confided.

“Really!” she said in a totally shocked voice. “You guys have the same problems we do?”

I nearly lost it. “Yes, we have the same problems you do.”

Little Foot Turns Nine

Turning nine is a big deal in our house. Since we have so many kids, we usually don't invite friends over for birthday parties. After all, every day is a party in our crazy home. But the planets happened to align the year Miss Bookworm turned nine and we had a friend party for her. Since then it has become a tradition that every child who turns nine gets a friend birthday party. We had a total of 17 nine year old boys at our house recently to celebrate and it was a fun (and energetic) time.

CrazyMom had the opportunity to make an ice cream cake for Little Foot for a celebration with grandparents, cupcakes for a classroom celebration, and then the cake for the official birthday party. It certainly takes a lot of cooking for all of that celebrating.