Unfortunately I have yet to replicate those delicious rolls but my overall skills in the kitchen have much improved since I first learned to cook. Back in my momma's kitchen I know she had her doubts when I frequently confused salt for sugar and couldn't quite master how to put an egg in a recipe without including half the shell. Twenty years later I can somehow manage to feed my family of 7 on a regular basis and not shower my kitchen in flour when we bake chocolate chip cookies.
Now that I introduced every member of my family I wanted to give everyone an inside glance into every day life at the Wilson house. Don't be fooled.... this is not our everyday reality.
Most days I wear sweatpants, t-shirts and glasses. Since Christmas I now awake to a dog barking at six a.m. The second my feet hit the floor an alarm goes off in my youngest child's brain that says, "Wake up, mommy is out range." As I try to have some kind of quiet time with the Lord, the others trickle down the stairs making their requests for breakfast known. If the waffles, milk, or cereal are out of stock, there will be moaning, whining and multiple pleas for me to go to the store immediately.
Mostly my days consist of dishes, school, laundry, cooking, playing referee, and cleaning; all with a baby attached to my hip. I answer questions like, "Mommy do you have any cardboard?" "Can I play the Wii?" "Can I have a snack?" "Do we have to do school today?" "Mommy, have you seen my _______(typically its the object I've told them to put away when they are done)? Some of these questions get asked multiple times a day. Some days I get to shower and Kentucky Boy finally got a door on our master bathroom so at least I can have fewer spectators when I use the restroom.
We have many people tell us they don't know how we do it. Or they will say, "Wow, your hands are full." Yes our hands our full but they are full of good things. I didn't plan to have five children under eight but I'm glad the Lord did. When they fight and bicker yes I question His judgement but then He will give me days and moments when they spend all day working together on a project completely derived from their imaginations.
People ask me all the time, "Well, are you done?" I know they expect me to say YES! But I can't. I know how many more children there are in the world who don't have a family. However, I also know I cannot adopt all 153 million of them. So He has shown us another way to help.
A few weeks ago I got this email from an adoption agency. The email was asking for families to host children from China for one month. I get emails like this all the time and usually I say a quick prayer for the children and delete the email. Well I just couldn't get this email out of my mind. There was one boy in particular that the Lord highlighted to me. It was something about his smile and the joy he seemed to carry.
I was unfamiliar with the hosting programs some agencies provide, so I finally decided to inquire about it. I always thought you had to adopt the child you hosted but that is not the case every time. Yes the ideal goal is for the families who host the children, to become their forever family but agencies also welcome families to host the children and then advocate for the child they host. We do not feel like we can add another child permanently to our family right now but we can open our home for four weeks. We can love a child and show him what a family is and we can be a voice for him to find his family!
After a family discussion and prayer, we said, "Yes, Lord. That is something we can do."
For four weeks this spring our family will grow one more. Coming all the way from China, meet William......
We are so excited to have this sweet boy in our home and to introduce him to all of you. But we need your help. We are praying for God to connect all the dots, to help find William a family. Will you help us spread the word? Will you help us be his voice? He needs you!
We have created a Facebook Page called Families are Forever where we will post things about William while he is with us. Go like our page at https://www.facebook.com/familiesare4ever/ and share it with anyone you know who has been praying for a son.
Yes we are a little crazy. I think any family with five or more kids has to be a little crazy. But I'd rather be a little crazy than normal. Because at the end of the day we found a recipe for family that works for us.
5 cups of Jesus
2 cups of love
1 cup of forgiveness
1 cup of laughter
2 TBSP of perseverance
1 TBSP of humility
1 tsp of teamwork
Lots of hugs and kisses and
a Dash of Crazy
