Throwback Thursday: Sleepy Heads on YouTube

I love posting pictures for #tbt. I'm pretty sentimental and there's just something about going through old pictures...

I've been going through all my One True Media videos and montages and posting them to YouTube because their site is closing down at the end of May. And this one... This is one of my favorites. Its in order that the kids came home: Ashley, Emily, Abby and Micah. Seeing it makes me want to update it to include all my pics of my two newest sleepy heads.

Happy Throwback Thursday y'all.

(Be sure to turn up the volume!!)

Summertime Groundhog Day

"Daddy's home! Daddy's home! DAAA-DAAAAYYYY's HOOOOOOOMMMMME!!!!" 

12 feet fun down the hardwood foyer to the front door sounding more like 100. Children knocking into one another as 4 of the 6 little bodies don't possess adequate balance to run with the stampede. But joy reigns as everyone struggles to hug the 2 legs walking in the front door. Little ones swept up by Daddy first and the taller ones wrap around his waist. The 2 oldest girls immediately launch (practically mid-story) into telling of their day, totally unaware that he can't hear over the other one talking, not to mention the squealing little ones.

For 90 seconds, all the world is right... because Daddy's home.

And after the masses clear, I get my weary hug and "how was your day?" The exhaustion is brought by both parties. He from his day at work. Mine from my work at home. 

~~~

This scenerio happens almost every day. Except that after this scene closes, the next several until bedtime are not quite so beautiful. Mostly because of me...

Evenings are hard. They always are. Dads are tired from work and just want to relax with their families. Moms are tired and anxious for the dads to be home, to have some relief-- I mean balance-- of parenting. Kids are... well at my house this is the most crazy time of day. Post nap time they're either fresh and wound up or cranky because they didn't nap well. There tends to be no in-between. 

And right now it's the end of July. We've had 8 weeks of summer, 2 of those with daddy out of town, and all my daily schedules (or scheduling attempts) have just plain gotten old. Every last thing grates on my nerves.

"She said I'm gross!!" "Well she said I'm mean!!" They're both right.

"Abby just hit Micah!!" What's new.

I cleaned poop out of the carpet and realized I could probably publish a highly successful YouTube video on how to get poop out of carpet.

Micah dumped an entire waistbasket in the toilet and flushed... flooding our bathroom 10 minutes before our home-group started.

I swept the kitchen and seriously contemplated if one of the children is carrying around a bag of sand that don't know about.

Only 2 of the 6 ate their lunch that I spent 20 minutes preparing.

I tried to order backpacks for the fall and the ones I wanted are gone.

The school supply lists were not posted exactly when I wanted (and thought I needed) them posted.

The kids get into some food in the pantry for the bzillionth time.

Abby finds a pen. AGAIN.

My kids have an unnatural amount of energy.

After a while it all becomes a way bigger deal than it should be. Its painful almost. Mommy is tired and needs a break. Except when this Mommy gets tired she gets irritable. And ugly. And holds unreasonable expectations. So I snap at my poor husband and I snap at my poor kids. But being tired is no excuse. And I know it.

I also know where my help comes from. 

I lift my eyes to the mountains-- where does my help come from? Psalm 121:1

But my restoration doesn't start with first day of school pictures, it doesn't require a babysitter, and it doesn't come after our 90 seconds of glory when Daddy comes home.

My help comes from The Lord, the maker of heaven and earth. Psalm 121:2

Being a mom can be such a tough battle ground. But it feels like it shouldn't be. Like on the outside we have this beautiful, sweet task of being good little mothers and by staying at home with our babies and raising them to love Jesus by wearing aprons and heals and singing hymns while we wash dishes. 

Meanwhile back in real life, our toddlers are throwing tantrums, our big kids are talking back, we're lucky if we can change out of sweatpants much less put makeup on, and we're pulling out our hair because we've gone "screen free", "gluten free", "dairy free" and any other free you can think of. And I'm only kind of kidding.

In all seriousness, my home is a mission field. There are small people walking around my house every day that NEED Jesus, and 2 new believers that need to be discipled. My home needs to be fortified with prayer as much as it needs to be mopped. Now is not the time to get dementia from summertime "Groundhog Day" (the movie, not the holiday). Now is the time to open my eyes to the spiritual needs of my family and not just the physical. 

Not that I can just let the laundry go for 3 weeks and pray instead. My husband needs clean underwear too. But what have I done to BE a helpmate to him this week? 

*sigh*

So as summer rolls to a close, I see that busy days lay ahead of homework and packed lunches and ballet practices and carpool and actually- potty training my 2 year old- And I know that I can't grow weary. I can't throw my hands up. The days are going fast and my family needs me to set an example of joy no matter what. They need me to be a strong woman of God who serves with love and with patience. 

... For the joy of The Lord is your strength. Nehemiah 8:10

And when Daddy comes home he'll be greeted by 6 wild kids and a wife who is strong and cheerful, with a joy that comes from The Lord alone.

Charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. Proverbs 31:30

Lord be my joy and my strength. Remind me hourly to stop and refocus on You. And may my family have all that they need physically and spiritually because of the work of my hands and my heart. In the name of Jesus. Amen.

My life as a youth pastors wife

It's a...  hmm what's the word... unique thing to be the wife of a youth pastor. With children. Several. Children. I recently read a hilarious post--which I thoroughly enjoyed and felt I could have written--from another youth pastors wife concerning this matter, appropriately titled, "And no one died."(check it out here: http://www.thehandmadehome.net/2013/06/and-no-one-died/)

Jake is gone right now, in the Dominican Republic. Leading around 30 students with about a dozen leaders.

This trip, as most do, will surely leave a lasting footprint. Impoverished communities will be fed, physically and spiritually. Needs met. Lives changed. 

Students will be impacted. They will find that as they serve, they are the ones who leave blessed. And the better for it. Gods Word reaching the corners of the earth by faithful followers of Jesus. 

As I type this, my amazing husband is preaching in a small village while his message about fathering is translated into Spanish by our buddy Brian.

But meanwhile back at camp Spencer...

I'm feeding children, I'm serving, and I'm working. I'm ministering and I'm changing lives. ;) I wish I could say that this is deeply satisfying work. But I'm just being a mom. Trying to survive a week without Daddy. Oh I know that I'm serving the Father by doing what he's called me to do. And ultimately I really know and believe that I'm a part of the work in the Dominican right now by holding down the fort for Jake. But it's hard to keep perspective after several days in row of refereeing tween girl drama, scrubbing poop out of the carpet, cleaning up after unnamed children who snuck downstairs and found cake in the pantry at 5am, and finding myself singing the theme song to Bubble Guppies at 11:30pm when I finally have time to shower. 

Not only am I in survival mode with the kids, I'm missing my better half... his conversation after bedtime. His kiss before he leaves in the morning. His texts saying he just left work. I miss ESPN being on in the living room just because it means... he's home.

But this isn't our first rodeo. He and I took the youth group to summer camp 3 weeks after we got married in 2002. And he (or we eeeevery once in a while) has been doing it every summer since. The last several years its summer camp, missions trip, and winter retreat.

And every year, every trip, I pray for my husband. And prepare my heart for several things:

~When a man does mighty things for the Kingdom, the enemy doesn't like it. So he makes an attempt to hit him from behind, by attacking his family at home. Happens every time in some way or another. So get over yourself Satan, we know your ways and we trust in the Name of The Lord our God.

~There is always a solid chance that my husband, being the sold out, Bible preaching, Jesus follower that he is, could come back and say, "Pack your bags, we're selling everything and moving to fill in the blank." In fact, I half expect it to happen one of these times. We've always agreed in our marriage that we go where God tells us to go, when He says go. Period.

~Lastly, this might sound a little extreme, but I prepare my heart that anything could happen to my husband while he's boldly sharing the gospel. This isn't being fearful, that's not what I'm saying. I'm talking about having wisdom and knowing these are the last days. Now, where our youth group goes now is generally a hugely safe trip. They wouldn't be taking dozens of students down if it weren't. But nevertheless. I pray. Fervently.

So as I clean sticky little fingers, and change diapers, and get everyone dressed for church and loaded into the car so I can pretend to be normal.... I pray. Safety for us. Safety for him. Furthering of the Gospel. Lives changed. And a little dose of sanity in our house until Daddy gets home. ;)

You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You. Isaiah 26:3

If you would like to check out more pics from this years trip to Josiah's House in the Dominican Republic, click on the Josiah's House tab at the top of my blog and follow the link to their Facebook page. And "like" their page while you're there. :)

Spencer Birthday Fun Facts

In light of the big birthday season for our family, I bring you, "Spencer Birthday Fun Facts"!

Of my little half-dozen, 3 of them have June birthdays. Micah, Kate and Emily.

My late summer/ fall babies are Ashley: August, Mabry: October, and Abby: November.

Micah and Emily are my very closest in age- they were both born in June 2005. And though we usually list Emily 2nd in the Spencer kid line-up, Micah is actually 3 weeks older.

Oleg (my baby boy in Ukraine who didn't come home to us) is four months older than Micah, so he would have made Micah #3 and Emily #4. (If you don't know Oleg's story, you can find it on my adoption blog.)

Also, Ukraine does this weird thing were they give adopted children new birth certificates listing the adoptive parents. So on paper: I gave birth to Micah, in Ukraine, on June 4, 2005. And 3 weeks later, I had Emily, in Tennessee. I know y'all know I've got some mad child birthing skills, but you didn't know I was that good, did ya? ;)

Little Miss Kate's birthday fell 2 days before Emily's birthday. Which means in 2011, Kate came home from the hospital on Emily's birthday. Most girls 6 year old girls can only pray for a real baby doll on their birthday. Emily actually got one that year. :)

Though she was my third baby, I was only 23 when I had Abby Grace. My "odds" for having a baby with Down Syndrome at that age were 1:1400. But we know that God had a plan for her and she is fearfully and wonderfully made!

My birthday is in November too. My mom was 2 weeks past her due date, October 31st. It really would have stunk having a birthday on Halloween. So thanks Mom, for working that out for me.

Jake was born on the 4th of July. So feel free to call him the Yankee Doodle Boy --or better yet, just sing him the song-- on his birthday. ;)

And for my last fun fact: there is a small stretch of time each year where my kids ages align and I have a child of almost every age, spanning 8 years. Yesterday and today only, their ages fall at 

2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9.

Happy 8th birthday to my strong little man...

Happy 2nd birthday to my baby...

Happy 8th birthday to my peanut girl...

I love each of you so much and pray for The Lord to pour out many blessings to each of you this year!!

Motherhood for dummies

I've got nearly 10 years of parenting under my belt. 6 children: 5 separate deliveries and a 4 year old brought home from another country. 2 of my children require constant care because they have special needs.

So you'd think I'd have some basic, logistical parenting skills down by now.

Like: Don't forget to check a room for markers before you lay a 23 month old down for a nap.

And the ironic part is, I've made this mistake before. With Abby. I've got sharpie stains on my sheets to prove it. You can see those pictures here.

But how do you punish a face like this?

Good thing that this time it was a washable Crayola.

Multi-tasking

Sometimes, as a mom, you've got to get creative. Innovative. Think out side of the box...

...or in this case, bathtub.

Poor Kate is on some heavy duty antibiotics (more on that later) and they are wreaking havoc on her poor little bottom. (If you're a mom, you didn't think twice about that. If you aren't a mom, sorry for the TMI.) This morning she woke up this morning in serious need of a warm bath to soothe and clean her little booty. But I knew if I let her sit in the bath, I wouldn't have time to get the bigger kids ready for school. So I had to come up with a way to do both. And fast. So...

Miss Kate got to sit in a warm bath, watch a movie (so she'd stay there), and I got to keep an eye on her while getting the others ready. Win win. And because nothing in this house is ever done alone...

So it actually worked out really well. I think we need more 7 am baths on the kitchen floor while eating cheerios and watching The Lorax.

Habi-coles

"Mommy, I habi-cole?"

Excuse me?

I look up from my new post in the living room. Still trying to get rest, I've been camped out reading blogs, doing the one-eye-open-mommy-nap and watching reruns of Duck Dynasty. That is, in between the occasional attempt at potty training diaper change, meal, or playing referee in games of "who had it first" or  "we don't bite".

Jake is still on the youth retreat. Ashley, Emily, Mabry and Kate are all out with friends who are fellow Nazis in Operation Help Amy. So its just me, Micah and Abbs. And apparently... Barbie.

So *ahem* Barbie and I are minding our own business when my two little bundled up Eskimos come in from playing in the back yard. Rosy cheeked and out of breath from climbing up the deck stairs, they come up and lean against the side table next to my armchair and stare at me. I can tell they both want something. 

"Yeeees?" I ask.

Abby, being the unofficial spokes person says, "Mommy, I habi-cole?"

"What?"

"I HABI-cole." Then she gives me the forehead-tilted-forward, mom-you-know-what-I-mean-just-think-about-it face. "Habi-cole."

Deeply confused, I look to my non-verbal child as if he's going to offer some help.

And in perfect comedic timing, Micah looks from Abby to me, raises one eye brow, lifts his index finger and licks it.

Immediately I know.

"OH! Popsicle!!"

Both raising their hands touchdown-style, shout in unison, "Yay!"

Hahahahahaha.... oohh those two kill me. I didn't get a chance to snap a pic right then, but called them in for a picture a bit later. What a couple of goobers.

Unfortunately they had to settle for a baggy of pretzels because I've been out of... Habi-coles... since, ya know... August. But the whole scene was just too cute. Moments to remember...

I just wanna... Part 2

Its time, once again, for "I just wanna..."

As a mom and wife, there are many things I catch myself saying. Things I "wanna". Please don't mistake this as a lack of gratitude. Because I'm grateful. Really. But sometimes... I just wanna... well, it'll make sense when you read them. For Part 1, click here.

So in no particular order, I just wanna...

... pee alone.

... have a cup of coffee without anyone dropping something into it.

... wear heels. Err... have somewhere to go wearing heels.

... wear a shirt that's not smeared with one of my children's... DNA.

... take a shower.

... understand everything Abby's saying.

... know what Micah's thinking.

... clean my whole house in one day... and it stay that way.

... decorate my house like my pinterest boards.

... be a fun mom, who does the unexpected.

... be a good daughter, who calls often.

... be an involved friend, who's always there.

... be a hot wife, who.... ahem. Anyway.

... go somewhere without a stroller.

... be able to hear the radio in the Suburban.

... be done with PMS forever.

... answer my phone without screaming in the background.

... put children to bed and them stay there.

... have a hidden camera on my table at dinnertime. Even if just for the audio.

... bless my husband the way he blesses me.

... buy everything the kids want for Christmas.

... be super mom.




Is that so much to ask? :)

Tis the season?

I think all moms should get a vacation after Christmas. And I'm not talking about the kind where all your kids are home from school for two weeks.

I've talked to so many moms in the last 48 hours that are exhausted from this season. Its only the 13th. And I can totally relate. I told one of them last night that everyone should be very impressed if I haven't pulled out all of my hair by the end of December. 

I'm conducting an unintentional experiment with my phone- seeing how many reminders I can pack in without it exploding.

Ballet/Hip hop classes

Bible studies

Christmas shopping

Wrapping presents

Christmas productions (2 for one school, 1 for another, and 3 for church. Thankfully my kids aren't in the church ones, but I'm guessing Jake will have to work and I'd like to go to one of them.)

Christmas cards and all that that entails (taking pictures, ordering the cards, addressing and mailing)

$10 for 2nd grade service project by Friday

Canned goods for 2nd grade service project on Monday

Graham crackers for Kindergarten gingerbread house party by Monday

Fruit salad for 3rd grade party on Wednesday

Apple juice for 2nd grade party on Wednesday

Wrapped book for 1st grade party next Friday

Fruit tray for 1st grade party next Friday

Taking meals to friends who just had babies (because I can't imagine doing all this with a newborn)

And all this while still trying to keep up with day to day life with a half dozen kids.

4 of whom just got over strep.

Are we having fun yet?

~~~

So if you are one of those moms running around like a chicken with its head cut off... you are not alone. Go cry in your closet to the Lord for 10 minutes if you need to and dive back into the world of Christmas tree cupcakes, Tamiflu and snotty noses, wrapping teacher gifts, uploading videos of your kid singing Silent Night in the Christmas play to Facebook. Be patient as you wait in the long lines at Target with a crying baby as everyone glares at you. Try to act calm when your 3 year old pulls an ornament off the tree for the 589th time. Take a deep breath and remember the reason for the season.

The Prince of Peace.

Aaaahh, yeah remember Him? Lets let Him reign in our hearts and calm the crazy storms of the American Christmas season. Its not about all the rest of it anyway. Its about Him.

And come January, call me. We can have a girls night out. I'm sure we'll both need it.

21 Days of Gratitude: Day 16

#1) Friendship that picks up where it left off no matter how long.

#2) Really yummy creamers for my hot coffee when its really early and I didn't sleep much the night before.

#3) Pomegranate season. :)

21 Days of Gratitude: Day 10 (Catan)

Today I'm thankful for:

#1) Don't laugh... Settlers of Catan

#2) Late night food like pancakes, snickerdoodles, and.... chicken tacos... that accompany #1.

#3) Good friends who've played this game with us dozens.... ok hundreds... of times over the years.

David and Katie...

Kory... and now his wife Samantha. :)

And one from the early days with Wes and D'Arcy...

Very seriously contemplating the board.

Other hardcore Catan players who've joined over the years... Travis and Rashelle, Krystal and Alex, John, Rob, and many more! You've put up with a lot of Spencer competitiveness! ;) We love all of you so much and we're thankful for your friendship.

Sometimes we dance...

Sometimes we sing....

Sometimes we play with random accents...

 Now... I'll give you two sheep for one wheat!! ;)

Stair steps

I've already shared this on FB, but I thought it was too fun not to share here as well.

My "Stair Step Sisters"

*Ahem.* Excuse my half naked baby. Its pretty much impossible to get a picture without someone missing clothes.

Anyway, isn't this so fun?! Almost a perfect line! And its crazy because they aren't all the same age apart at all.

Ashely and Emily are 22 months apart.

Emily and Abby are 17 months apart.

Abby and Mabry are 3 years apart.

Mabry and Kate are 20 months apart.

And yes, someone is missing. This is just the girls. :) But for the record, Micah is almost exactly Abby's height.

So I just had to share. My little stair step girlies.

Mommy fail

I'm starting to think that Spirit Week is some sort of cruel test for busy parents.

I can hear some school board meeting somewhere, "Lets have a week, once a year, where parents have to find all sorts of different costumes... just to make mornings that much harder!" *evil laugh* "And lets do a different thing each day to really confuse them!" *whole group joins in evil laughter*

Ok, well, maybe its not that mean spirited.

But if you have an early elementary kid... or 4... and toddlers/preschoolers... it feels like a cruel test.

One that failed this week.

Somehow, late last night as I went to bed, I realized I was off a day this week. Wednesday I dressed Abby in "Crazy" clothes for "School Spirit" day, and on Tuesday I dressed her in pajamas for "Crazy" day. Monday was the real "Pajama" day and I don't have the foggiest idea what she wore, but I can tell you that it was normal school clothes. How did I miss that? Why did I think Tuesday was Monday?

Major mommy fail.

The good news is that Abby probably didn't care at all, but just had fun wearing strange things to school.

Yesterday there was no school, and today was "Hippie" day. But I gave up. For several reasons- We were all out of whack on Spirit week anyway, Abby doesn't know what a Hippie is (nor could I ever explain that to her), and we don't have any hippie clothes. And I'm revolting against spirit week because I'm embarrassed.

I'm not sure why Micah's class didn't participate in Spirit week. Or maybe they did and I totally missed the memo. But its always better to err on the side of wearing normal clothes than to send your kid to school in a big red tutu with snake-skin leggings and a Cherry Coke t-shirt on School Spirit day. *eyeroll*

Sigh.

Thankfully Ashley and Emily can take care of their own costumes for their Spirit week.

For those who, for whatever reason, seem to marvel at our family and ask me in amazement, "How do you do it?" Well... apparently, sometimes, I don't.

Peanut Butter

No, this post isn't about the banana bread I made a couple days ago. Its about my baby.

Let me back up a bit.

Each of my kids have a special nickname that I gave them when they were just tiny. (In Micah's case, right after he came home.)

Ashley's nickname is Sweet Pea. I'm not even sure how it started. Probably because I remember my mom calling me that. Whatever the reason, it stuck.

Emily is Peanut. Mostly because she was so tiny. Emily was (and still is) one of my smallest, percentile-wise. My little Peanut.

Abby was a November baby and quickly became Pumpkin. She had these sweet, round cheeks and Pumpkin (Really more pronounced "Pun'kin") was just the perfect nickname for her.

At this point I realized they all started (or sort of started) with a P.

When Micah came home, I didn't have a P name that fit. He was (and is) just Buddy, Bud or sometimes Bug. I figured if we every had another boy, we'd give him a B nickname and leave P for the girls.

Mabry quickly became Princess. A name she fits to the T. Er... P. :)

While pregnant with Kate, Ashley and Emily asked me what nickname I was going to call her. I said that I wasn't sure, but it would be fun if it started with a P as well. And Ashley voted that Peaches would be a sweet nickname. I agreed. So, since she was born, I've tried to make Peaches fit. But it never comes naturally. This isn't some huge, overly sentimental issue to me, more of a coincidence really, so if she didn't have a P nickname, it wasn't the end of the world to me.

But then it came to me.

And being my very chunkiest baby (again, percentile-wise), it fits her so well.

Peanut Butter.

Yes, its close to Emily's nickname, Peanut. But it fits Kate so well.

Sweet, chunky, Peanut Butter. That's Kate. :)

Strawberry Shortcake

My 2 year old can decipher the difference between the new Strawberry Shortcake movies and toys, and the old ones. She will have nothing to do with the new stuff. I'm starting to think she just like's Strawberry's red 'fro.

That was my random thought for the day.

Well.

The one I posted anyway.

Favoritest

One of my favoritest things ever (and yes I'm aware that's not a word) is going outside after being in air conditioning all day, and sitting in the hot sun til I get chills from the heat. Do you know what I mean?

Or like when you are in a freezing cold restaurant and then go get in your super hot car? I LOVE that!!

This concludes my random thought for the day. Now back to my regularly scheduled blogging.

Ants

Just for fun (well maybe fun isn't the right word), I would like to add to my last post that I have spent the last several hours-- since writing the last post, but pausing for lunch and well, life-- completely gutting my playroom in a drastic attempt to clean up a major ant infestation, per Mabry's incessant screaming, "Mom!! BUUUUGS!"

(Wow, that was a run-on sentence if I ever saw one.) :)

In related news, I've decided that ants are evil.

So the ants are gone, the kids are all either napping or playing outside, the playroom baseboards and windows have been sprayed, and I have eaten lunch myself while writing this post.

Now it is time to assume a warrior pose and launch into packing in 3... 2....

Packing

Its time to get my OCD engines running. In 3 days, four of us are going to the Dominican Republic, two are going to one friend's house and two are going to another. Which means 8 distinct packing lists. And I'm the kind of scatter-brain that would forget something like... underwear.


So, besides Jakes-- because he did his own-- I've been building these lists for about two weeks now. Don't laugh. Its the only way I can handle my family dividing and knowing everyone will have everything they need.

I'm already finished with the gargantuan (I didn't think that was really a word, but spell check fixed it. Huh.) task of typing up instruction lists for the four littles. And I made (and notarized) medical release forms. I've notified ADT to put anyone in jail who even steps on our property. (I'm actually really serious, I did.) And I notified our pediatrician's office. Oh and the bank.

I have washed, and am continuing to wash, mountains of laundry so everything is clean.


And now its time *cue dramatic music* to pack.

First it looked like this.

This is in my big family organization binder. Aka. the external hard drive of Amy Spencer's brain.

And if I had time I would totally type them up in an Excel file and print it out. But I don't. So these are my master lists. I would flip my book open and jot things down as they would randomly come into my brain. Stars note items I needed to purchase.

And now my bedroom has become Packing Ground Zero. Good thing we haven't had the money time to get furniture. (Except for my amazing bed, but ...that's another post.) So I took each of my lists and taped them up around the room. I have sections for Jake, myself, the 2 big kids, the 2 middle kids and the two babies. (Since that's how they are divided for the trip.) Then each kid section is divided into a sub section for that child.

So as you can tell, I've just started with some small items. I've still got a lot to do. These piles are about to explode. And it all needs to be done by Tuesday night before our Bible study because Wednesday is run-around-dropping-everyone-off-day. And Thursday morning we have to be at the airport at... well, lets just say it could also be considered late Wednesday night. I don't like to speak of such hours. Anyway, I have 2 days to finish packing, finish laundry, spend time with all my babies and store up kisses and squishes for over a week, clean my entire house so its not a crazy disaster when I get home, oh and still perform the daily functions of feeding 6 kids 3 meals a day, changing the two in diapers, running a 2 year old to the potty every stinking five minutes now and then, keeping up with dishes, facilitating kids chores, breaking up fights, entertaining them so they don't sit in front of the TV all day and making sure little thieves don't pull stuff out of the packing room as I'm putting stuff in. That's doable right? Right?!?!

Oy. Ok, anyway.

In case I don't get a chance to post again until we get home, I have some prayer requests. Just a few. ;)

~Pray for safe travels for our trip.
~Pray that the 4 littles aren't too homesick
~Pray that Ashley and Emily can properly process the unique situation of going to grandma and grandpa's hosue, which is also a mission field.
~You could also actually pray for Jake and I-- before we leave-- as we continue to prepare the girls for all that they are going to see down there.
~Pray that Abby's sensory overload moments are at a minimum and that she's happy and content.
~Pray that Micah would behave and stay with our friends. :)
~This sounds funny, but I really need prayers that the tent-bed we ordered for Micah comes in!! Like, today!!! Please, Jesus, we need it!!!!
~Pray that the babies wouldn't have too hard of a time being away from home, mommy and daddy, and the rest of their siblings.
~Strength for friends watching our kids. (thank you amazing friends!!!!!)
~Protection over our house (thank you awesome neighbors for keeping an eye out for us!)
~Pray for Jake, Ian and the other leaders going down.
~Pray for the families of the leaders who are staying here. I know that feeling of sending your spouse off on a mission trip and the spiritual warfare that happens at home while they're gone!
~Last but not least, pray for the 40 youth kids. That hearts and lives would be changed- the youth and those to whom they are bringing the gospel of Jesus!!!

Ok, one more cup of coffee and here I go!!!