Kids act crazy in front of pastors of church....oh boy...

Living in a camper with six kids, well, is not easy. Now, many people say, "Well, at least you have two teen agers to help." And, yes, they do help. But, they can be just as time consuming as a toddler. I love my teens. They are incredible, just time consuming. So, life is challenging enough and then we throw ourselves into a camper. It is pretty wild. Now, make it Christmas, throw a Christmas tree in our little camper, an extra table, and lots of presents! Wow! It is crammed! I just take a deep breath and walk around everything. It is crazy, but a good crazy.

Now, today was an adventure. I had to finish up my shopping. I am a little tired, so I will spare you the long version. The short of it is this, Cody went with my Uncle to help with my cousin's garage door. Shae is working and then volunteering by pulling wire to help build a huge new church. Hanna, Naomi, Gabriel, Josephine, Tytus, and I set out for a day shopping at Guitar Center, Old Navy, Justice for Girls, Best Buy, Toys R Us, and Walmart. Well, we didn't make it to the last three.

We were at Guitar Center when the pastors of the church we are doing volunteer work at walk into the store. It was nice to see them. But, of course this is when Gabriel decides he is going to play with Tytus. He pulls on his legs. I tell him to stand by me, (Hanna had Tytus). He came to me and then headed back over to Tytus to pull his legs some more. All the while I am talking with the pastors. Gabriel goes to Tytus, I tell him to come back. Gabriel comes back and then goes to Tytus. I tell him to come back. Gabriel comes back and then goes to Tytus, again. This happens 4 times while I am talking with the pastors. It never fails, the kids disobey in front of the last person you want them to.

So, we head to Justice for Girls, can't afford anything, so on to Old Navy next door. We find Naomi a couple of shirts. While we looked, there was a cute little toy puppy I let Josie sit by to play with. She needed a little time for her. She enjoyed talking to it and sitting on it. It was time to go, but she was not going to leave. No way. Absolutely not. I asked her nicely, then firmly, then strongly. She came with me. We got about 4 isles down. I saw another cute shirt for Naomi. Just about then, Josie decided she was going back to the toy dog, now. Off she ran, with me calling her from behind. She made it to the toy dog and was not going to leave. I was carrying Tytus, so I had Hanna go get her. Josie would not leave. Hanna had to pick her up as she screamed and cried no. We got to the check out when Josie decided she didn't want to stand in line anymore. She hid in the clothes rack. Needless to say, I loaded up the kids, informed them they were not going to Toys R Us and we would head straight home. Now, I tried to have extra compassion on them, I knew Josie had a little cold and wasn't in her right sorts. But still, I could not ignore her disobedience. We got home and I sent Gabriel and Josie in the back for a nap. Hanna then told me she had seen the pastors in Old Navy, too! You have got to be kidding me. So not only did they see Gabriel disobey, but they got to see the show put on by Josie!

So, I feel this is a good time to mention two things I feel very strongly about.

1st. It is good for people to see that we are not perfect.
I remember there were two women I thought had it all together. They had lots of kids, homeschooled, cooked perfect, had great marriages, etc. But, I was wrong. They had problems, too. Their lives were not even close to perfect. As I got to know them better, I saw that they struggled some, too. I think it is so important to not try to live up to an unrealistic expectation that we usually put on ourselves. Do you know someone that you think has it all together? I dare you to get to know them better and see that they have flaws too, just like you and me. Now, I am not saying do not better yourself, or learn from other peoples lives. I just mean that we have to be careful to not try to live up to a standard that is not realistic or possible. If we do , we will always be a failure in our own eyes.  Everyone has hard days.  This doesn't mean we can over look complete disobedience, it just means it is not realistic to think we will not have those days.

2nd. Living in a camper is not easy. Many people think this is the easy life, that traveling is like a year round vacation. It is not. Like I told my Grandma today, my camper is a house, my home, it just has wheels. I need a vacation like anyone else. Traveling full time with lots of kids is a ton of work. But, I always ask myself, "Is this problem the result of living in a camper or would it be this way in a house?" A lot of our difficulties would be in a house also, they are not dependant on a camper.

Well, it is after midnight and I have 3 sick kids. I better get to bed so I have enough energy to take care of them.

God bless you,
Sheri

Prickly days in the prickly desert.