The Show Must Go On

Day 3

I woke up from a miserable night.  I mean MISERABLE!  But, I am thankful that we were dry.  If we had been in a tent, I don’t think we could have said as much.  Also, I am thankful that the kids slept through the whole ordeal. 

During the night there was a serious thunderstorm.  I heard later that it was the heaviest rain storm this area has seen in a while.  Whether that is true or not, it SOUNDED like the heaviest rain storm I could ever have imagined.  Now, that could only be because I was in a camper, and the rain pelting down on the roof was amplified, and reverberated through out the whole camper.  But, either way, it made for a very crazy night.  Josh was at work.  He told me later that he heard about the storm around eleven o’clock, and he almost called me, but he was afraid he would wake me up, and then I wouldn’t get any sleep for the rest of the night.  I can’t tell you what time it was when the lightening and thunder started, but it seemed to last a LONG time.  Of course, when you are lying in a pitch dark camper, listening to rain and thunder, it feels like a very long time.  Sometime during the night Abigail “woke” up.  I say “woke”, but I am pretty sure she was sleep walking, or something.  She said she had to go potty, and then preceded to pee on the floor of the camper, which is carpeted, just so you know.  Oh, and my right tennis shoe happened to be in the line of fire.  Enough said.  So, I sent her out to the kiddy pool and told her to rinse off.  Hey, I was sleep deprived.  Plus, she doesn’t remember any of this, so I am safe from the title of worst Mother of the year.  I stripped her down, and sent her to the pool, not once but three times.  She kept coming back and she wasn’t wet.  So I would send her back, and she would come back with a confused look on her face.  Looking back it was quite comical….really.  Finally she is gone for something like 30 seconds, and I start to wonder where she is.  So I peek out the window, and she is squatting in the pool, shivering.  So I yell for her to come back to the camper.  I dry her off.  Give her lots of hugs and kisses, and tuck her back in bed.  Hopefully none of you are calling the Child Protective Services at this very moment.

So, after a horrible night, we had a lovely breakfast in the camper.  It was Josh’s last night of work, so he stayed up and tinkered with stuff in the house and camper, trying to get things done.  Then he succumbed to sleep, and passed out in the camper, while I headed to the Library with all the kids.  When we got back Josh was in the camper, and literally had beads of sweat all over his body!  I seriously think if I had not come home he would have been cooked to death in the camper.  I had forgotten to put the air conditioner back on.  It was on low fan.  It must have been near 100 degrees.   Praise the Lord I came home when I did.  Of course, classic Josh, I come in, make sure he is alive, turn on the AC, and he just stares at me, blinking.  Hmmm…we know where Abby gets it now.

Dinner was a show all its own.  Maybe I should call up CBS and ask them if they want to do a show of our life right now.  Could make some money, right?  Anyway, it took 3 days for me to remember my trusty ole’ crock pot.  I plugged that thing in, heated up some sausages, and then dug out the camping stove, and cooked sliced carrots, garlic, butter and salt!  YUM!  So, you ask, what kind of show is that?  Well, it’s all in WHERE everything was located.  I had the crock pot in the camper, and the stove on the east side of the house.  The camper is on the west side of the house.  With this kind of set up you think I would have gathered everything I needed and took it all at once to the stove.  Nope!  First I took the carrots.  Then I went to the house for the butter.  Then I went to the camper for the garlic, but I had enough sense to grab the garlic press while I was there, but not the spoon.  Then I went back for the spoon.  Then I went back for the pot holder.  By this point I am sick of walking back and forth, and I turn off the stove, and leave the lid on, and tell Josh to bring it to the camper when he is done mowing the lawn.  I had hoped it was cooked enough/ hot enough to keep cooking.  I was wrong.  So, we ate half cooked carrots.  Thankfully I used a whole stick of butter.  We ate dinner in the camper, with strawberries for desert!  Delicious! 

We then had a delightful visit from some friends we now have the privilege of calling neighbors- when you live in the middle of no where you can call friends that live 2 miles down the road neighbors.  Trust me.  They lent us a mini fridge!  Ta da!  Now we can stop the cooler show!  Phew!  Thanks again neighbors!  Of course, these are the same neighbors my husband mentioned “having over”.  Really?  I said, “Have over where, honey?”  Maybe they can bring their camper over, and we can have a party?  Maybe they would enjoy the show!

Weeds or Flowers

     Day 2

Today we explored a bit of the town we now call home.  It was very entertaining, even though the three year old started whining about his feet being tired about a block from home.  We met the neighbor behind us.  She was very friendly, and told the kids they were free to roam in her back yard.  They were totally stoked about that! 

While I was out and about I was noticing what different neighbors have done with their homes.  For those of you who don't know, the town was a mining town, and all the houses in town look one of two ways- either they are single homes, tall and skinny, or duplexes.  Some still look like two families live in them.  Others have been remodeled to be one family homes, like ours.  We have torn out all the inside walls that aren't needed, and the extra stair case, but the outside still looks the same.  So, I was taking mental notes of what people have done.  Some have turned the extra door into a bay window.  Very good idea!  I love bay windows.  Others have extended it out and turned it into an enclosed porch.  And then others have put one door in the center and then added a big porch/deck!  I love that idea!  Also, some have added attached garages, and other back deck/porches.  I love those ideas as well.  Josh and I are very interested in a garage!

On our tour of the town, we came across a little fitness "station".  It also had a set of swings and a few other things for the kids.  I am kind of excited about this little park.  I hadn't expected to find anything like that in town.  We also found out that there will be a big 4th of July parade on Wednesday in a town a few miles from us.  We might have to check that out!  On the way home from our tour, the kids started picking me "wild flowers" (aka weeds).  None of them were that beautiful on there own, but once they were all put together, they made such a beautiful bouquet! 

After lunch I took the kids to the Library.  While we were there my youngest little boy had to use the potty.  The Library has a little kids bathroom right by the kids section, SO HANDY!  He pooped, and the reason I knew that was because he started to yell at the top of his lungs, "Mooooooommmmmyyyyyyyyy, I pooped!"  One of those moments when every one is looking at you and you just smile, and laugh to yourself.

The evening ended up being pretty muggy and very hot!  We finally got out the little kiddy pool and filled it with water.  VERY COLD WATER.  This turned into bath time, when I pulled out the baby wipes, and wiped the kids down.  After I got them all cleaned up and watching a movie in the camper, I jumped in with my clothes on.  Cooled down, "washed up", and got out feeling rather refreshed.

Right before I went to bed I was thinking through the day, and think about all that had happened, the good with the bad, and I realized, that the day was it's own sort of bouquet.  Each individual event really didn't hold much beauty of its own, but everything together did end up making something beautiful.  It reminded me of my trip to Kenya.  While I was there for 6 months, the missionaries I stayed with told me that even though it seemed hard, and difficult, and not as wonderful as we may have imagined it to be, that in a few years when we would look back on it, we would remember the trip with fondness.  And they were right.  I look back to that trip with great appreciation and happiness.  But it WAS hard.  And it's not like I just don't remember the hard things.  I do remember them, but it was a part of something, something that had a significant impact on my life, and something I would never trade for anything!

So, I am sure, that this experience, in turn, will be its own wonderful memory.  Getting through each day seems to be a challenge now, but I keep telling myself that it is the beginning of something beautiful, and not to over analyze each specific event of the day, but to take it as a whole.  Because my kids will.  For sure they will; and so will I.

Beginnings Can Be Exhausting

     Day 1

It's official.  We live in a camper.  Not just any camper.  A camper with no working fridge, shower, stove or toilet.  It is about 25 feet long, 7 feet wide, and its home, for now.  I figured that many of you would be wondering what in the world we are doing, and so, after a dear friend suggested I start a blog about it, here I am.

It is going to be an adventure.  At least that is what I kept telling myself yesterday, over and over and over again.  And by the end of the day, when I was ready to pull out my hair, scream and shout, and stomp and pout, I stopped.  I put a movie on for the kids, and took a deep breath and thought through the day.

The day started off with a several children making mad dashes for the bathroom inside the house.  The door, by the way, is kept closed with a wire type thing wrapped around the door knob and then a nail on the door jam; it is very much not complicated, in any form.  The kids mastered it in one try.  I, on the other hand, took several attempts before I figured it out. 

Next came getting dressed.  Four different bags, in various places, each crammed full of clothes.  Out fits picked out, one particular little girl eager to wear a dress, and a little boy wanting to wear black jeans, even after he was told it would be near 80 degrees outside.  Then we proceeded to breakfast.  I found the stash of paper bowls and plastic spoons, and then set to finding the coolers with the food in it.  By this time daddy arrived home from work, and bags needed to be moved, and pillows and blankets tossed aside, so he could find a place to sleep for the day.  We all ate breakfast together and said "good night" to daddy.  I gathered up the swim suits, and towels, for we planned to go to the beach for part of the day.  This is where the little snafu came in to play.  No shower....I am NOT going to grace the people H-town with the presence of my hairy legs.  I don't care how much of an adventure we are on!  After much deliberation, I decided to try the garden house and a bar of soap on the porch steps.  I was able to go unnoticed for the first leg.  Then I started hearing, "Mooooommmmmmmyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"  I am sure all my neighbors put their heads out of their doors for the show after that.  My three kids then proceeded to watch in awe and I finished the other leg.  This was a new experience, all in itself.  But, thankfully, the water was not cold.  I did not need to use much, and it was warm from sitting in the hose in the sun.  I was so giddy about this I wanted to high five some one.  But my kids were too confused by my need to remove the hair from my legs.

Finally we all loaded into the van, and headed to the beach.  This was truly an enjoyable event.  I was able to breathe deep and relax.  There was only one moment when my heart seemed to leap into my throat.  There was a dock the older two As were jumping off of.  The eldest A went to jump, and slipped, and was a millimeter away from smacking his head on the dock before plummeting into the water below. 

I even got into the water for a few minutes.  It took me about 10 minutes to finally get my whole body under.  While there I made sure to slosh water around every inch of my body, realizing it would be the closest thing to a shower I would get for a few days.

The end of the day was more chaotic than I would have ever thought possible.  I had the brilliant idea of bathing my kids in a rub.  The water was cold, but it didn’t seem to bother them at the beach earlier in the day.  They wouldn’t be in it for long.  It all went well; until it was my eldest daughters turn.  Her hair was a mess of tangles.  I groaned as I looked at it.  I had been trying to convince her to let me cut it for weeks.  She just does not take care of it, and it is always a pain to comb.  I asked her again if we could cut it, and she, having a moment of weakness, I guess, said, “Okay.”  I grabbed the scissors and went to work, much to her horror.  She wept, I mean WEPT over her hair.  I had no idea she would be so sad.  She cried for 20 minutes.  But, it was 20 minutes she would have spent crying from me pulling all the tangles out of her hair.  It is a breeze to comb her hair now, praise the LORD! 

Well, by the end of the night, Josh was at work, and I had put in a movie for the kids to watch, and I sat there in a stupor.  What a day.  An adventure for sure!