WE DID IT. :)

and wow.  9 kids is a lot.
we definitely had our ups and downs, but for the most part we all had fun. and the kids got along great.

we had them off and on wednesday through saturday, with thursday night being the only night they stayed over.  and that went surprisingly well.
well, besides baby kevin (or KJ as we call him) having a cold and a hard time sleeping, wren ending up sleeping in our bed, camrie having a nightmare and needing to be held a little (she went to dave- it melted my heart :),  and my dad calling at 5am cause he was out shopping for his company christmas party and had a question for dave.
besides all of that our night went great :)

in church on sunday we sang a song about God being a Father to the fatherless.  and my eyes welled up.  probably mostly from pure exhaustion, but also for His calling on us to be His body and to care for the fatherless.
it is a calling that just keeps calling over and over.
who knows what's yet to come???  ......i have a feeling it will be incredible......and exhausting :)

and then we had sunday afternoon to ourselves to unwind a bit.  it was some much needed down time with our kids.  with a touch of guilt mixed in over the school work that was sent home for the weekend and that was very much left undone.....and the amount of house work that was calling to me- which was also left undone.

and now we are back to the school schedule......and already behind with Christmas. :(

I AM SO VERY GLAD THAT JESUS WAS BORN.  

but i can hardly handle the Christmas chaos.  

on sunday i was adding up in my head the number of gifts i have to buy in the next 4 weeks..........and with teacher gifts, gift exchanges, gifts for family members, gifts for my kids from grandmas and grandpas who don't know what to buy them, gifts for our kids from us, gifts for the Gilberts' kids and Destiny, and secret santa gifts at school........the number is 56.

56 gifts. some big some small.  plus the neighborhood cookie exchange.  plus christmas cards. 

and it all starts this saturday with the kids' sunday school christmas party.  for which i need 8 teacher gifts. 

kinda makes me want to leave town and come back after the new year. 

especially with 2 toddlers to drag around town from store to store.  and let me tell you, even online shopping is hard with little ones in the house.  

but i can do all things through Christ who gives me strength :) i think i have mentioned that before.  actually, I repeat it to myself a lot......

so here we go.....let the chaos begin.....we are putting up our tree tonight :)

and since neiko and wren have already learned (thanks to the christmas tree in the mcdonalds playland) that ornaments break when you knock them off a tree, i'm sure they will be very careful around ours........:)