Behind the scenes

People are always curious about "how we manage it?" I'm never quite sure how to respond. Reality is that most of the time, life at our house is more of a controlled chaos than the well-oiled machine that I dream of it being. David is organized and systematic by nature. I am more… well, scatter brained-sort of a "sit down before you hurt yourself" type of gal. Even as a young adult my mother would send me to bed for the safety of all. I like to tell myself that I am doing better now, but managing a large family still does not come naturally for me. A caretaker by nature, I'm in my 'zone' when someone is sick. But see, that is where God is so amazing. It would be too easy if this came naturally. Working against the grain is where the real growth happens. A good sense of humor doesn't hurt either.

So, you wanted to know about our house, am I right? You thought that we had a roomy house for all these teenagers to stretch out comfortably in. That's ok, we get that a lot. The original house, that we bought 8 years ago, was a 1500 square foot, 3 bedroom, 2 bath rambler built in 1977. It had the original orange shag carpet and heavy plaid curtains in the '70's autumn colors. We liked the house because its in a neighborhood where everyone has about 2 acres of land. Within the first two years, we cleared off some of the trees for more light, took out walls to make it more live-able, incorporated the garage into living space and added 12 feet onto one end of the house to make more bedrooms. Today the house is about 2700 square feet. Not luxurious, but functional. If we ever try to sell the prospective buyers will wonder why anyone would need such a large laundry room or two full stoves in the kitchen, but its how this family rolls. The only thing I really wish we had was a bigger master bedroom. Apparently, personal space for the parents wasn't a priority in the '70's! Our bedroom is only slightly larger than the kids' and our "bathroom" is barely big enough to turn around in-no bath (ugh!) That's ok though, it gives me something to dream of….an nice big bedroom with a sitting area and a bathroom with a soaking tub…someday.



Now, I know you have more questions rattling around in your head…let me know what they are and I'll answer them J