I love reading mommy blogs (you know, blogs by moms!) As a wife and stay at home mom, I find them encouraging, challenging and sometimes what I need to get me through the day. However, the posts (mine included) tend to reflect the life we have in the western world. I think a different perspective is healthy.
I'm reading a book called Kisses from Katie. Oh my! I will be doing a giveaway soon.
The book is about Katie Davis, who today, is 23 years old. She lives in Uganda and runs Amazima Ministries and is a mom to 13 little girls. Yep, that right, she's 23 and a mom to 13 little girls. The book chronicles her journey which started in 2006. I wanted to share with you an excerpt from the book, a different perspective.
"Monday February 9, 2009,
Yesterday was just one of those days that people with multiple children will understand, even if their chidren don't number in the double digits. Christine has gone back to school, so it's just me at home. I am so thankful that school has started because that gives me some quiet time in the morning to do the laundry, make lunch, and get a jump start on dinner, so I can be fairly calm when the chaos ensued later in the afternoon.
Anyway, yesterday the power had been out for almost seventy-two hours. Running water was shut off around two o'clock in the afternoon, just about the time the kids came home from school, meaning that none of my beautiful filthy children could get a bath. It was one of those days when everyone just seemed a little louder than usual, and no one wanted to listen or acknowledge anything I said.
It rained all day, making my firewood wet and impossible to use. (The power was still out, so the electric stove inside didn't work, but I had one gas burner that did work). It was nearing 8 p.m. and dinner wasn't ready. The big girls had gone to get water from a well so we could wash our feet because I can't stand it when my kids get into clean sheets with dirty feet, and thirteen children were running around my house pretending to be zoo animals. I just had to close my eyes and laugh for a minute.
By 8:30 the beans were finally cooked and we were all sitting in a huge circle on the living room floor because we outgrew our table a long time ago! It was pitch-black in the house and our last candle had burned out, so we couldn't see anyone. When I distributed the food and had a plate left over, I just assumed I miscounted. And then I started asking Joyce a question. She didn't answer.
'Joyce?'
No answer.
'Joyce?'
Total silence.
So I got up and went around the circle counting heads. Twelve. No Joyce. I yelled her name inside and outside, tripping and stumbling throught the dark, still with no answer. The mom in me began to panic. I ran to check the bathtub even though I know there couldn't be water in it. I grabbed my phone to use as a light and ran around the compound. Nothing.
As Agnus went to check the garage, she tripped and fell. When I went to make sure she was okay, I tripped too-over Joyce's legs! There she was, and halfway under the kitchen table. We all fell to the floor in stitches!
That was God's little gift to me yesterday. Not only an opportunity to sit on the floor and crack up with my children, but a little reminder of how much I love and value each of my children individually, even though there are so many of them...God reminded me that when even just one of His 6 billion plus children turns away from Him, He is saddened and seeks her out. He is the Shepherd who left His 99 sheep to find just one, and rejoiced and laughed when He found it. He reminded me of the sorrow He must feel when I stray for Him, don't trust Him, don't ask Him, and the way He rejoices when I come back and lay at His feet.
Ten minutes later, the power came back on.
This morning I woke up at five o'clock to make breakfast for all thirteen children, double-checking the circle this time. When I was in the kitchen cooking the eggs, I kept thinking I smelled something rotten...I went to investigate...I pulled the stove out from the wall...a very large rat had crawled up inside the back of the stove. All I could see was his long, thick tail and a clawed foot. I had cooked him...he was totally rotten. The smell was enough to make me vomit. I put on my electrician hat, opened the back of the stove, threw up, and pulled the decaying rat piece by piece out of my stove.
Then I sprayed everything in my whole kitchen with bleach and poured the already made coffee back through the filter, because I'm going to need it a little stronger today.
I do not have anything eloquent or wise to say about the rat or what God taught me through it. It was just plain nasty. But I am sitting here laughing about it because I know that God has a gift for me today, a lesson for me today, someone's heart for me to change. And if some rotten rats come with that, bring them on!"
Ok, let's review:
I'm reading a book called Kisses from Katie. Oh my! I will be doing a giveaway soon.
The book is about Katie Davis, who today, is 23 years old. She lives in Uganda and runs Amazima Ministries and is a mom to 13 little girls. Yep, that right, she's 23 and a mom to 13 little girls. The book chronicles her journey which started in 2006. I wanted to share with you an excerpt from the book, a different perspective.
"Monday February 9, 2009,
Yesterday was just one of those days that people with multiple children will understand, even if their chidren don't number in the double digits. Christine has gone back to school, so it's just me at home. I am so thankful that school has started because that gives me some quiet time in the morning to do the laundry, make lunch, and get a jump start on dinner, so I can be fairly calm when the chaos ensued later in the afternoon.
Anyway, yesterday the power had been out for almost seventy-two hours. Running water was shut off around two o'clock in the afternoon, just about the time the kids came home from school, meaning that none of my beautiful filthy children could get a bath. It was one of those days when everyone just seemed a little louder than usual, and no one wanted to listen or acknowledge anything I said.
It rained all day, making my firewood wet and impossible to use. (The power was still out, so the electric stove inside didn't work, but I had one gas burner that did work). It was nearing 8 p.m. and dinner wasn't ready. The big girls had gone to get water from a well so we could wash our feet because I can't stand it when my kids get into clean sheets with dirty feet, and thirteen children were running around my house pretending to be zoo animals. I just had to close my eyes and laugh for a minute.
By 8:30 the beans were finally cooked and we were all sitting in a huge circle on the living room floor because we outgrew our table a long time ago! It was pitch-black in the house and our last candle had burned out, so we couldn't see anyone. When I distributed the food and had a plate left over, I just assumed I miscounted. And then I started asking Joyce a question. She didn't answer.
'Joyce?'
No answer.
'Joyce?'
Total silence.
So I got up and went around the circle counting heads. Twelve. No Joyce. I yelled her name inside and outside, tripping and stumbling throught the dark, still with no answer. The mom in me began to panic. I ran to check the bathtub even though I know there couldn't be water in it. I grabbed my phone to use as a light and ran around the compound. Nothing.
As Agnus went to check the garage, she tripped and fell. When I went to make sure she was okay, I tripped too-over Joyce's legs! There she was, and halfway under the kitchen table. We all fell to the floor in stitches!
That was God's little gift to me yesterday. Not only an opportunity to sit on the floor and crack up with my children, but a little reminder of how much I love and value each of my children individually, even though there are so many of them...God reminded me that when even just one of His 6 billion plus children turns away from Him, He is saddened and seeks her out. He is the Shepherd who left His 99 sheep to find just one, and rejoiced and laughed when He found it. He reminded me of the sorrow He must feel when I stray for Him, don't trust Him, don't ask Him, and the way He rejoices when I come back and lay at His feet.
Ten minutes later, the power came back on.
This morning I woke up at five o'clock to make breakfast for all thirteen children, double-checking the circle this time. When I was in the kitchen cooking the eggs, I kept thinking I smelled something rotten...I went to investigate...I pulled the stove out from the wall...a very large rat had crawled up inside the back of the stove. All I could see was his long, thick tail and a clawed foot. I had cooked him...he was totally rotten. The smell was enough to make me vomit. I put on my electrician hat, opened the back of the stove, threw up, and pulled the decaying rat piece by piece out of my stove.
Then I sprayed everything in my whole kitchen with bleach and poured the already made coffee back through the filter, because I'm going to need it a little stronger today.
I do not have anything eloquent or wise to say about the rat or what God taught me through it. It was just plain nasty. But I am sitting here laughing about it because I know that God has a gift for me today, a lesson for me today, someone's heart for me to change. And if some rotten rats come with that, bring them on!"
Ok, let's review:
...just one of those days that people with multiple children will understand.
...yesterday the power had been out for almost seventy-two hours.
Running water was shut off around two o'clock in the afternoon...
It rained all day, making my firewood wet and impossible to use.
...we were all sitting in a huge circle on the living room floor because we outgrew our table a long time ago!
It was pitch-black in the house and our last candle had burned out...
This morning I woke up at five o'clock to make breakfast for all thirteen children...
...a very large rat had crawled up inside the back of the stove.
...I know that God has a gift for me today, a lesson for me today...
I don't know about you but I see my home and life clearer, when reading something from a different perspective.
Here's Katie's blog, Kisses from Katie.
She amazes me...I am looking forward to reading her book!
ReplyDeleteSteve wanted to know what I was crying about. I just read this post. I've heard you and Jennifer Peters talking about this book. I've been curious. Thanks for the perspective.
ReplyDelete