Support Your Local Youth Pastor

In 36 hours I'll be at the Nashville Airport.

I'm not sure which is the bigger shocker here: that I'm going to Italy or that I'm going to be away from my family for fourteen days. My dad and stepmom are taking me and my sister on vacation!!!!

Its a long story, but I haven't seen my half sister in about 15 years. We were 6 and 16. And now, we're going on vacation to all catch up. For two weeks. Gallivanting through Italy. I mean is that the coolest family trip/reunion ever or what?? Its enough to make me want to use the word gallivanting again.

But lets get back to the mom-with-six-kids-under-eleven-and-two-have-special-needs-is-leaving-them-all-with-dad-for-two-weeks thing.

I feel like I should preface this by saying: I married super man. Or super dad. While some of our friends boast that they've never changed a poopy diaper- this guy has changed literally hundreds of diapers. And cleaned poop out of the carpet at 3am more than a few times. He's the guy that could write a small essay on the babywise nap/feeding schedule philosophy. He can give the babysitter full instructions while I'm still putting on make-up for a date night, and usually remembers to give more (and better) information than I do. He never calls to bug me when I go for a moms-night-out with my friends. And hey, he can settle tween girl sister drama.... I mean that alone should win some sort of peace prize.

But all that being said. I've never left all 7 of them together alone for two weeks.

So I've been prepping. Except this whole week before I'm gone, Jake's been gone at summer camp. And he's doing a two part sermon series for our church while our Senior pastor is out of town. (You can check out part 1 by clicking here.) Most of my "prepping" for the single-dad weeks had to be done before the single-mom week.

This. Is my master notebook that I've prepared for them.

Don't laugh. I've been working on this notebook for a few weeks and I finished it today.

~A calendar for the kids so they know what to expect on what days (I think my kids all kids do better when they know what to expect

~The weekly dinner plan

~Phone numbers: Emergency #'s, Ash and Em's friends' moms for scheduling play dates, neighbors, and the handful of people that can handle--and are willing to help with--Micah and Abby.

~List of who's babysitting and when (so that Jake can go into work some, though he's mostly working from home)

~Ashley and Emily's daily responsibility charts (because they know they're going to have to step it up a notch to help out while I'm gone)

Also, I stocked up the freezer with dinners for 2 weeks. Yesterday I cooked from 9am to 3pm without stopping. Which was only possible because of my rock star 8 and 10 year olds who entertained the four littles, helped me feed them lunch, and put them down for naps for me. Mini moms in training. 

That last picture is twice baked potatoes. I'm clarifying because it sort of looks like a body in our freezer.

Oh and I also had to pack for myself. Which I finished a couple days ago.

Not that I'm anxious or anything.

So no, I'm not in the hospital, or even off on some missions trip. I'm on vacation with my dad, sister, and stepmom. But if you think of it, pray for my husband and kids back home. 

Or if you're local, maybe call to see if you could pick up a kid. Or. 4. Or maybe you could drop off a pizza on the porch. Because these guys might need a hand without mom around the next two weeks. Anything you can think of to support your local youth pastor. ;)