In Praise of Our Kids

          As I was recently writing our annual Christmas letter (I know it’s January 26th ... don’t judge!), I arrived at the traditional “run-through-the-ages-and-characteristic-activities-for-each-child” part of the letter and I got to reflecting how great our kids have been about this whole “preparing for the mission field” life that we’ve dragged them into. 

        From day to day it's just ... life - and I don't always give them enough credit for what they endure.  We’ve taken them from their own house and moved them into Grandma’s house ... where there is ONE bathroom and three bedrooms total:  Melissa and I in one, Grandma and The Princess in another, and the three older siblings together in the smallest of the three!  We have dragged these poor kids around on long weekends and extended trips to meet strangers (to them) and sit through worship services in strange (to them!) churches.  And there have been bigger adjustments: when I quit my job this past summer to pursue funding full-time, it necessitated a school change for them, and all the stress and uncertainty that comes with such an upheaval.  Furthermore, because of time and budget restrictions, extracurricular activities have often been severely curtailed.  (Dats hasn’t gotten to play on a soccer team for a while, for instance.  And he loves soccer.)

        I'm not saying that it has all come easily to our kids, believe me.  At times they have dragged their feet about certain necessary steps - like downsizing the number of toys they have.  And I'm sure each has now and then coveted a friend's possessions, activities or house.  And arguments about privacy for dressing or whose turn it is to use the bathroom occur daily. 

        Literally. Daily.

        But all in all, they have not only endured all the challenges, they have flourished.  And they know WHY we are doing this and they are all on board 100%.  And we couldn't be prouder.

        Having said all that, here's a little paragraph The Drama Queen (age 10) wrote for a class assignment recently (to practice using prepositional phrases!):

            A Great Dane has more space in a dog house than I have in my room. In my bedroom in the corner is a white wicker bed which is the only thing in my brothers’ and my room that I don’t share with them. Next to my bed stands a tall two-door cabinet stuffed full of our clothes. On top of the dressers is where we keep my sister’s and my hair bow container crammed full of thousands of hair bows that spill out on to the dresser or floor when we open a drawer. In the middle of the room lies our small rug in between my bed and the bunk bed. By the window sits our little, teeny, tiny table which is the only thing separating my bed from my brothers’ bunk bed. Under my bed are my many crafts because there is nowhere else to store them. In our closet my purple, leopard patterned volleyball has been squished in between our shoes. On top of my bed is my dark blue blanket, covered with my pajamas, Bible, journal, camera and a hat. On the ceiling is our ceiling fan that almost hits my brother in the face when he climbs up on to the top of the bunk bed. Someday I hope I will get a bedroom I don’t have to share with my brothers and sister.   

The room ... and the roommates.  I used my plug-in web cam to take this picture because it meant I could stretch the cord all the way into the very top corner of the room, just above the door, in order to snap the picture.  But it still doesn't do justice to the TIGHTNESS ... for the past 18 months now ... and the next six.  They are troopers. (And Grandma is a REAL trooper for letting us stay with her!)

P.S. If you are on our mailing list, you should be receiving our Christmas (in January) letter by snail mail within the next week or so.  If you don't receive one, but would like to receive regular updates by mail and email, just drop me an address at sgross@onemissionsociety.org and we will gladly add you to our mailing list!