Surviving Seven Children . . . Finding Peace Amidst Chaos: service

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Monday, February 9, 2009

The Visiting Teaching Guide

This is one of the movies we showed at our Visiting Teaching Conference.
Be prepared to laugh & cry!

Seven Children -- What's so fearsome about that?

Yep, you read it right. I have seven children! This includes three teenagers who know it all, three grade-schoolers who do it all, and one toddler who, like a little tornado, gets into it all!

When I began my family over 15 years ago, I had nearly completed a bachelor’s degree in Family Science with an emphasis in Human Development. But I think I learned nearly as much during the first night that my oldest son, as a darling newborn babe, stayed up screaming for hours (and hours, and hours....)!

Honestly, sometimes I'm just trying to remember where I put my keys! At times, my quest in life comes down to simple things like, “How can I get across the kitchen floor in socks without getting them covered with sticky goo?” Some days I would be on top of the world if I could just get to the bottom of the laundry mountain and see it disappear for more than a few hours.

Yet somewhere along the way of crazy days filled with chaos, I have learned something. I have learned that the most beautiful moments in life are often unexpected and fleeting.

Like for instance the time my preschooler tiptoed up to me smiling and said,“Mommy! Look at the pretty flowers I picked just for you!” I was speechless. There, clutched in her tiny fist, were perennials that I had carefully planted last fall. I resisted the urge to cry and instead gave her a big thank-you hug. I was touched by her thoughtful innocence. Flowers grow back.

Then there was the time I noticed a permanent marker masterpiece on my toddler’s newly-painted white door. I was about to explode. Then I looked at the drawing. I saw five primitive stick figures with big smiles and a carefully scrawled caption reading: “I love my family.” My eyes filled with tears. Doors can be repainted.

Is it worth it? Oh, yes, it is worth it. It is worth every bottle of salon shampoo dumped into the bathtub. It is worth all the times you climb into bed at the end of an exhausting day and find cracker crumbs and candy wrappers between your sheets. It is even worth dragging yourself out of bed to silence the mind-numbing cries of a fevered baby.

Most parents know that they have the most fulfilling and important job in the world. But how do you cope with 3 noisy boys staging a light-saber battle on your best furniture? How can you enjoy the sweet moments when you can’t even find the bottom of the kitchen sink? I am here to share with you a few secrets about how I’ve learned to thrive among the chaos. Do I have all the answers? Certainly not. No one does. And don’t believe them if they say they do!

But with seven different attempts at getting it right, and over 15 years of failing and succeeding, I have learned some survival techniques that I’d like to share. And not just surviving, but thriving. Life can be beautiful (even when you forget to brush your hair!)

So put in a long movie or leave your spouse to handle the chaos for a few moments while you explore the fun and the frantic – ideas and answers to the questions that you’re sure to ask once you’ve embarked upon the most stressful and rewarding career of all. Parenting.

Who knows? I might even help you find your keys!

Surviving Seven Children . . . Finding Peace Amidst Chaos

Monday, February 9, 2009

The Visiting Teaching Guide

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Seven Children -- What's so fearsome about that?

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