It’s amazing how things that you brush past every single day becoming a blaring head light in your face during a new circumstance.
Tonight I babysat 10 kids. Tonight was probably one of my
favorite nights of the entire year. Call me crazy, but I loved it.
To be exact with the kids ages, they are:
12
11
9
9
8
6
5
4
22 months
6 months
And oh, how much fun they were. They are also wonderfully
behaved kids and I would never be able to handle them if they acted
differently.
(Dinner for 9 kiddos. And I may be just a bit OCD)
(Ok, very OCD)
But back to my thoughts. Tonight, I decided to notice
things. And to give up on other things. Normally, when I baby sit them during
this night each year, I am running around like a mad person, trying to make
sure everything turns out “perfect”. But tonight, I let the dishes actually
stay in the sink for a whole hour before cleaning them up. And I let the kids
have messy faces for 10 minutes. And instead of running ahead trying to clean
up and keep up, I sat down. I sat down on a bar stool overlooking 10 beautiful
kids sitting at a circular table. They were all laughing their heads off
between bites of mac and cheese, because they were each taking turns sharing
their favorite America’s Funniest Home video moment. Then the little 22month
old waddled over to me and asked to sit in my lap. He snuggled sleepily with me
as I continued observing. And I smiled to myself, thinking what a beautiful
picture I would have missed if I had been doing dishes right now.
(10 kiddos, 1 table.)
Later this evening, after the two babies were in bed, and
all 8 of the older kiddos had chocolate rings around their sweet mouths because
of the chocolate strawberries they had just eaten, we had a dance party. The
music at the end of Ramona and Beezus came on, and I grabbed the 5 year old and
swung him around. Looking into his smiling eyes all I could think was happy
thoughts. And thoughts of thankfulness. Many people I know would never dare to
babysit 10 kids. Boy, are they missing out. Kids (especially 10 of them) come
with lots, and lots of work. Those moments dancing around the living room?
Those are worth every second I ever spent working. Those are precious moments,
and they will live much longer then any memory of the work.
(Me and baby with a very dirty kitchen behind us)
~Rebekah
