Sometimes the house isn’t quite full enough with just five children. The signs include: periods of silence ranging from 10 to 45 seconds, cupboards and refrigerators with food still visible, and clean, tidy surfaces.

There’s only one thing to do in such instances – invite some more kids over, preferably for a sleepover. Throw in another family with five children, lots of pillows and sleeping bags and the house starts to feel cozy. If you can arrange for a few more kids to come by in the morning (and stay for the day), then you are doing an excellent job to remedy this terrible situation.

We had our church Small Group on Sunday evening. It was a lovely time of food and fellowship. We even managed to go through our parenting study. Talk about productive!

Libby may be small, but she is definitely in charge!

As the night crept on and one family lingered, I realized it was time for my children to go to bed. Since the other mom and I were no where near finished with our lengthy conversation, the only thing to do was host an All Family Sleepover.

Well, not exactly “all” as mom and dad went home to their own beds, no doubt chuckling the whole time about convincing us to keep their sweet darlings overnight. Ha!

In the morning, after making a huge batch of pancakes, I realized shortly I would be heading out to pick up two of Rachel’s friends (sisters who would be spending the day with us). Instantly an email I had received earlier in the week flashed in my mind.

We are looking for any volunteers to come help paint the toddler room on Friday, May 23 and/or Saturday May 24 between the hours of 10am & 4pm.

These girls are hard workers!

It wasn’t Friday or Saturday, but I thought there might be a good possibility someone still needed some painting done. I proposed the idea to the five pre-teen/teenagers devouring my pancakes and received an extraordinarily positive response.

Sure! We’d LOVE to paint at the church! all five enthused.

With that joyful reaction our day took on the shape of service. The kids piled into the van and we set off to pick up Rachel’s two friends. By the time we reached the church it was 10:30 am and we had seven ready and willing workers.

What a blessing! It was such a delightful encouragement to see the hearts of these teenagers (and almost teen agers) as they grabbed rollers and brushes and tackled the toddler room. We had the primer done in no time. When the children’s director asked if the kids could possibly come back and do some more painting in the afternoon, all five eagerly accepted the invitation.

Sure! We’d love to! If Mrs. E lets us.

Ah, that was a bit of the kicker. I was a cheerful part of the working team and heartily agreed to return after lunch. That is until I got home. And sat down in my chair. At that point I didn’t want to leave the house again until dinner time.

Some of the paint actually ended up on the walls.

Tim, I said, shaking my head in disappointment no one else showed up to paint the toddler room.
No one in the whole church except Aleta, the Sunday School teacher, came. Isn’t that terrible?

But Kathy, he responded, they didn’t need anyone else. You all were there.

But, but, I sputtered, in indignation and disapproval.

You were the ones God used to work. You were the ones He provided.

Did I grade math assignments? Work on meal planning? Do laundry? Organize homeschool assignments? Email my parents who have been out of town this weekend? Or even sit down and read a book?

No.

But I was given the opportunity to serve. Not only that but I was blessed to create a situation where my children and their friends were able to serve.

And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Hebrews 10:24

And I think THAT is a pretty good way to spend Memorial Day.

Kathy
Project 366 – Day 146

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