Family in Town

I have gained so much admiration on top of what I already felt for my sister-in-law. We've had my husbands brother's family here with nine of their ten kids, their oldest is on a mission and their youngest is not yet three. So we have six growing big boys and 2 young girls along with my three growing kids that went through 3 bags of cereal in one morning. Every meal, every outing, every day is an adventure, fun and exciting though too. It has been a fun challenge planning meals and putting them together and working out the legistics of space and all. Yet, somehow we've been fine and things have worked out, I have not yet lost my mind and I'm learning skills and tricks to feeding large groups several times a day. I've watched my K & M hand out chores to their kids and how they communicate and work with all these children. How M gets the kids to do things without even raising her voice. It seems like a big key is consistency and commitment, and lots of love.

When we were walking around the local campus as a big group, I thought it was really neat for these kids, they will always know they belong with their family and they have a group that they will always belong to. One brother had cruches and couldn't make the long walk, his older brother stayed and sat with him and later even gave him a piggy-back ride to meet up with the big 15 passenger van. Of course they have fights and sibling squabbles but their mom would just stop the car or withhold doing things until they could get along again. These parents love each one of their ten children and the children each know they are loved. They read scriptures together they pray together they work together. There are so many things I have learned to do with my children. Of course I'm writing my blog instead of implimenting all of this with my kids because I'm so tired.

It has been exhausting but fun and so much easier on us as the host instead of being the guest. I am so grateful we've had family come visit us this summer. It is so much easier on our pocket-book, on our children's sleep, on our sleep to be able to stay in our own home and have people visit, esspecially since we have still young children which are so hard to travel with. I think a key with family visiting is just loving and helping eachother, respecting one another and communicating. Wow, I'm so tired to think in and out of everyday is like this and even more crazy when not on vacation for K & M is amazing. I am so grateful for parents like them who bring these beautiful children into the world and raise them to be wonderful citizens, wonderful people and wonderful parents themselves one day.