a good dozen

So I've got these 12 extra people.  You know besides my non-desperate-housewife-responsibilities to the 2 kids, husband, parents, etc.  And I think I have the best dozen a girl could hope for (granted they are all a bit strange).  I've got the six guys at Bethesda and the six students in the house.  And I think everybody (at least housewives) should have an extra dozen people or so to take under wing.  I think everyone's life would be better.  Maybe an old neighbor or "that kid" from your kid's class, or a foreign family, or a single parent, or that family that-has-had-too-much-cancer, or maybe I could be included in someone's dozen - you know, "that poor crazy girl who can't always handle her own dozen:) ".
Anyway - life isn't at all cheaper by the dozen. Just better.
Jesus had a dozen.
I should have a dozen.
Ok - that's my bad exegetical summary for the day.

I'd like to introduce my dozen for this year.  Not a bad one in the bunch.

(Ok so between what I wrote above and finding these photos I got side tracked for 7 hours.  I think that is what happens when you have a dozen.  I think that is why Jesus didn't have a blog. Please excuse the second logical fallacy for the day.)

(Also, in going through the photos I realized my "dozen" have fuzzy edges... so please don't count the following people - then numbers may not come out right.)

This is who lives in our house right now.  Lucy is behind the Carnival mask.

I love this picture of our house because we are all so easily lined up for introductions. (left to right)

Kahlad, Saudi Arabia:  I love Khalad because he is so gentle. 

Allen, China:  I love Allen because he plays chess with Jude while I cook dinner.

Lucy: I love her because no one has ever made me laugh so hard.

Me:  I love myself because Jesus is redeeming me.

Jude:  I love him because he is brilliant - he is just like his father.

Salah, Saudi Arabia: I love him because he will always be a part of our family.

Jarod:  I don't even know where to start.

Annie, China:  I love her because she wears big beautiful glasses and really knows how to clean!!

Cassie, China: I love her because she regularly takes photos of the food I cook. THANK YOU

Alice, China:  I love her because she is honest, because she is taking time to be my friend

Sometimes we do strange things... like dog pile... because we can... because we are a family

And sometimes my extended family comes to visit, and it is beautiful.  Mariah spent 10 whole days just doing life with us - and a month later the students are still talking about her beautiful daughter (though they may never be able to say Palmer).  Here we are trying to take a self portrait without double chins but we just ended up with weird neck veins and huge Stafford teeth.

But we made some beautiful girls, didn't we?

My husband's parents kind of take our family as part of their dozen - and they made us this beautiful porch swing that I just can't stop sitting on.  Which probably explains how far behind I am in things. 

Also, I like to go on trips, like to the state fair - where I watch 7 of them race down a giant slide.  I honestly don't care about photo quality people - just capturing the moment - because my memory is TOTALY WORTHLESS.

And here is Kingson on the mechanical bull.  He's an X-housemate, current best friend

The strangest $5 I ever gave our son.  I always wanted to ride one of these.

Salah and his cousin Yazzed... I also like Salah because he has his own dozen that he brings around to add to our circus.  Yazzed is like a housemate who never lived with us.

And then there is Tony.  He is our Uncle.  Don't ask - it just works.

And then there are the guys.  Did I say I took them under wing?  

I think I meant they take me under wing.

Check out the FENCE

Randy.  I love him because he makes my emotional instability look normal

Tom and Jay finally put Kingson to work and took a breather. 

I love Jay's smile.   

David.  How much fun could one grown man be?

John.  The face of negativity.  He makes me seem chipper.

How is that even possible?

Sometimes we even put the students to work.  

Alice and I planted some roses while discussing her future.

10 years from now both will look so different.

I wish 10 years from now he would look just the same.

FOREVER.

Annie and Allen cooked us a wonderful lunch to celebrate Mid-Autmn festival today 

And Jarod is in the business of making homemade soda in the garage.

Because as Kingson says, "Jarod, you really have a skill of staying busy."

Mark, hoever does not.  And we like it that way.

Carl was not pictured because he spent the last week with his sister.

The Mid-Autmn festival was not pictured because, well I am bad at photos this year.

The Lion King that the kids just went and saw is not pictured because they don't allow photos.

Other than that I think we are pretty caught up.

Bring on October...

So I guess I changed everything

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." - Margaret Mead

Generally I think it is a good idea not to assume too much about the impact that one makes on the world around them. I think it would be pretty accurate to say that what I DO in any given day matters very little in the scope of the universe. That is realistic. Humbling. And realistic. However, there is also a Biblical paradoxical truth that clearly states that all human life has divine purpose and plan, and through unseen means each of our mere existence may drastically change the course of the lives of each person we encounter. And we don't know how. Maybe we catch a glimpse of it – but we never really know.

This weekend I caught a glimpse of how I may have changed everything. Jarod worked all labor day weekend out at Bethesda and the long hours and managerial position don't really suit him well. But I saw that when the children were present his job changed. The joy he found from merely having Lucy on the golf cart with him or Jude at the guys “movie night” changed a responsibility into a privilege. I mean, who gets paid to hang out with their children? And whose co-workers love your children the way each of the men love ours? As he cleaned the pool the children and David swirled around him in laughter and what would have been a task taking time away from family became an excuse to be with his children. And as we enjoyed our family time together – as we fried apple rings with the men and chatted over meals – I caught a glimpse of my own childhood from my parents perspective. I realized that as parents, my parent's job at Bethesda afforded them joys unimaginable and for those 20 years that I was around the job that kept them CONSTANTLY at home and CONSTANTLY active was a blessing. Then I left. And like the lights going out in a room – everything that was freedom to stay home became a cage that kept my parents from their “own” life. I was just born and I just left – and I didn't get it at all until this weekend. Perhaps if I wasn't. Had never been – my parents would not have had the energy and joy to do the work they did for 35 years. Perhaps if I had stayed they would still have the energy and joy to do it still. If I had just stayed 3, sitting on the golf cart laughing with David, that would have been the best thing I could have ever done with my life. My existence can give others ability. My children's existence is doing the same for me. They are a gift. Their being is my ability to do. To enjoy.

We telephoned 3 different handicapped men over the weekend, all of which still live at home with their parents, to invite them to a picnic. One of them couldn't come because he had to “care for his mother.” All of their parents are old now; frail and perhaps should live in a nursing home, but their handicapped children enable them to live at home. And I wondered, how many older people who have raised smart children to go and DO in this world wish now their children would just BE with them at home? How many of us have forgotten our first ability – our existence as improving the lives of others.

It's just my thought for today. Just my hope for tomorrow. That I may still BE joy in the lives of others, giving them energy to love the life they live. And that I may enjoy the gift of those around me, and not realize all the energy an ability they gave me just by BEING in my life only after they are gone.

So that' my thought. Who's life is your being giving energy and ability to, and who are you receiving from regularly without even knowing it? I'd love to hear about it.

Happy labor day... but don't forget his yoke is easy, his burden is light.