In this house, normal is half of us waking up to greet the 2 or 13 kids that we will be taking care of that day. After everyone eats the breakfast of their choice and leaves it on the counter, the boys go outside, the younger girls get out the dolls, and the older ones try to tidy up. I hope to escape and work on my art. Instead, I play Polly pockets and make lunch. My wonderful siblings try to help with the naptimes, the lunch, messes, AND do their school, but it's one or the other. What most people don't know is the sandbox isn't just dirt, it's a volcano in Pompei, a chance for buried treasure or a construction zone depending on the imagination. The toy guns (mostly) are not just toys, they protect the girls in the sandbox, and the mathematics about velocity and pressure are focused on heavily by my 12 year old brother. (I don't understand a bit!)The garden is a miracle where water and dirt make food, and living things thrive. The one horse is a valiant loyal steed. The playhouse is a hideaway.
Right now my brothers and their friends are filming their own movie. They wrote the script, take turns acting and filming, and I'll help them cut it and put it together. The girls watch me try to write a story, and I stall to teach a three year old that blue and red make purple, and we draw together as the older one tries to write a poem. The four year old learns to add as we play snakes and ladders. we learn debate class as they bring forth arguments as to why they should watch TV instead of clean. (didn't work.) It's soccer time, and we make individual pizza breads, and they learn to cook. The littlest kids and Mom are out, and that's when we try to tidy up. From all this learning and running around, the Lee kids are tired! We put the extra young ones in either their own Mommy's arms, or in respective sleeping arrangements. Sometimes that means "camping" in the playhouse. I didn't get much done, but I did a lot!
As this is going on, in my personal time I don't have, I help my little sister with her resume, update my own, look for a job, write a book, Help Grandpa build a countertop, try to stay in contact with the people that are far away, wonder why I need to help with youth group, and why I never have a clean bedroom when I go to bed.
This is normal for me. many things happen through the rest of it, but these are the main points. I sometimes feel lazy, because this isn't the stuff that goes on resumes or to do lists, but I wouldn't trade a minute of it, even though I will be moving on soon. No one else's home is like my own, and it made me who I am. I just wish I had a naptime, And I'm only the big sister!
God is teaching me through being back home. At times I'm tired, and just want company of people my own age, not Moms, not kids. I love them, don't get me wrong, but it's hard being almost the only one in my town that's neither one! I have been languid or restless, hoping for something else to do, somewhere else to go, and I've spent most of my life feeling the same. I DO feel called to travel, reach out to kids in the cities far away, learning more of cultures and God, but I am being taught that Home is wherever God has me, and right now it's here. And it's good.
No comments:
Post a Comment