Why Communication is Important (a.k.a. Too Many Meals)

This week turned out to be kind of nuts. I have a really hard time saying "No" to people. In fact, sometimes, it's almost impossible. So, last week, without talking to each other, Grig invited a family over to eat Friday night and I invited a family to eat Monday. Then, when we did talk to each other, we invited another family to eat Saturday night.

The Monday night dinner went well. We had our neighbors over for chicken quesadillas. They were a big hit. Then we had Family Home Evening with them and played a game that went along with a spiritual theme. Then, we had otter-pops for dessert and they went home.

Tuesday, I ended up waking up early to drive Grig to work so I could use the car later. The missionaries were having their Preparation Day (P-Day) where they have time off from proselyting to do laundry, go shopping, and have some recreational fun. I had told the missionaries that when they wanted to, I would take them to the Pepperidge Farm Thrift store nearby. They were pretty stoked, and they told me that they wanted to go on Tuesday. So, about 10:15 a.m., Kevin and I went and picked up the Sisters. We had a good time. Kevin started getting grumpy at one point, and we all sang to him until he cheered up. We didn't sound too bad, if I do say so myself. We all bought some bulk cookies and goldfish. It was awesome.

Then, I drove the Sisters back to the Tabernacle where they could e-mail their families. Later, I picked them up from a field where they were playing games and took them back to their home.

Wednesday, I was expecting to have a fairly boring day, but in the morning I got two phone calls. One was from my aunt who wondered if I could watch her kids while she went to the temple. I quickly agreed, because Kevin loves to play with his cousins. However, a few minutes later, I got a text from my neighbor who needed to use my computer. She came over for a while, and we had a good time talking. She brought her little girl, and she and Kevin had a great time. However, she wore him out and fifteen minutes before his cousins were supposed to arrive he fell asleep.

My neighbor was still using the computer when my cousins arrived, so for a little while we had a pretty full house. Kevin didn't stay asleep very long, and then as Grig called home during lunch, my neighbor left. The rest of the time was filled with games, a movie, and a trip to the playground. We had a good time! Grig got home while the kids were still around, and after we played tag we headed home to wait for their mom to come back and get them.

Whew! We had a lot of fun, but I hadn't gotten anything done and I was a bit tired. So, while Grig and Kevin had a nap I relaxed and read for a minute. Good, but busy, day.

Thursday started off with someone ringing incessantly at my doorbell. I was dreaming about it, and by the time I emerged from my deep sleep and stumbled to the front door, no one was there. However, a few minutes later, someone began ringing the bell again. It turned out to be a couple neighbor girls who had missed the bus. She wanted a ride, but I told her I didn't have a car and she should go tell her mom that she had missed the bus. I think they were scared to tell their parents they had missed the bus. Either way, I couldn't have taken them without their parent's permission. So, that started off the day a little crazy, though things went pretty well after that. It was a little less busy, so that was kind of nice. Havelock went to work pretty late, and just as he left Grig came home early. They're starting to cut back on their hours.

We talked for a while and did a few other things. It was nice. We have company coming tonight and tomorrow night, so hopefully the next couple of days go well.

It's good to talk to your spouse before you invite people to dinner, but sometimes you can't. That was kind of the situation this week. It's been a crazy, but awesome, week. We've had a whole lot of fun! Communication is important, but so is service. As we've served those around us, we've had a lot of joy come into our home.

Random, cute picture of Kevin. Enjoy.

Are Big Families Crazy?

 I've recently been reading a book series by an author named Angie Sage.  I'm currently on the second book.  I'm really enjoying the series, except for one thing:

The author's portrayal of large families.

In this series, the main character is the seventh son of a seventh son.  So, the main character's family is quite large.  Here's the issue I have:

The family is totally disfunctional.  Four of the boys are now living in the woods like savages, one has turned to the dark side, and only two actually spend time with their parents.

Seriously?  I understand if you don't want to have to write about nine characters at a time, but that seems a bit extreme. 

For those of you who are not from big families, we're not really that crazy.

Grig's family had seven kids. 

There were ten children in my family. 

We are really close.  When I was growing up, there was the occasional sibling argument, but we all knew that we loved each other and we listened to each other.  As the older siblings grew older, we were able to help out our parents by taking care of our younger siblings.  If I told my younger siblings to do something, they generally did it.  They sometimes griped about it, but they listened to me.

I think a lot of people can't imagine having a big family because they think of all those little kids running around.  What a lot of people don't remember is that little kids don't stay little forever, and most people don't have six children at once.  (That does happen occasionally, and it's difficult, but doable.  I knew a family that had sextuplets, and they are doing just fine.)  Usually, by the time you have six or seven children, the older ones can now help with the younger ones.

My parents taught me responsibility.  I loved children and I still do!  I would babysit other people's children, because I couldn't get enough of them.  Not all older siblings are like that, some just like their own siblings, and some are tired of little kids, but I really liked having a lot of babies at my house.

Usually, in order for a large family to work, the parents have to have some pretty strict guidelines.  That doesn't mean that they're cruel, it just means that they set boundaries and stick with them.  As we grew older and were able to govern ourselves, we helped the younger children learn those boundaries too.    In some ways, our parent's work load increased as the number of their children increased, but in other ways, the work got easier.  They now had more people to help get the house dirty, but they also had more people to help clean it up.  We didn't always, but we usually were pretty good.

I loved having a big family.  When you're inside of it, it doesn't really feel like there's that many people.  It just feels like the perfect amount.  I wouldn't trade any of my siblings for anything.  I loved having so many friends that I could generally count on. 

It wasn't always perfect.  Sometimes there was fighting and sometimes I still felt lonely, but as we've all grown older, we've also grown closer.  It's so much fun for Kevin to have cousins to play with.

So are big families crazy?  I guess that depends a little on how the kids are raised.  However, I would say no.  At least no more crazier than any family...and we're all kind of a little crazy.

Do we want to have a big family like our parents?  Definitely.  Maybe not quite as big, but Kevin is great!  Why wouldn't I want him to have brothers and sisters?