BTI Babysitting, Day Ten: Wednesday

On Wednesday morning all of the parents were good enough to get up early and get their kids ready so that we could all (for my sake) go in for morning devotions. The theme for the day was divine healing and I was so blessed by what Brother Dustin shared, though he had to skip most of what he had prepared due to the time. We often declare that divine revelation can come from God alone and would scoff at the idea that any man could help impart it to us. We should have the same confidence in declaring that divine healing can come from God alone, rather than Him having to “use doctors” to heal people, thus the term “divine.” And we often forget that when Jesus established the Church they were told three things and given the power to do them: preach the gospel, heal the sick, and cast out devils. We unashamedly preach the gospel, but sometimes we back off a little bit when addressing the others. We sometimes weakly preach and practice divine healing, failing to hold firmly to the truth that the very same blood that saved our souls from sin can and will heal our bodies from all sickness and disease. What a glorious truth it is! Brother Dustin also mentioned how that Peter is often criticized for his weakness when he was walking on water and became fearful, but what about his strength? Aside from Jesus he is the only one who ever walked on water! If we desire to see and experience divine healing in our lives, we’re going to have to get out of the boat.

NOTE: All of the above thoughts are what I came away from the devotion with and not necessarily what or how Brother Dustin presented it. I would hate to misquote something and have somebody hold it against him—he can get into enough trouble on his own, without my assistance. ;-)

After devotions I loaded up the magnificent seven, came home, loaded up five giant bags of trash, and took them to the dump. There have been 17 people living in this house these past 12 days (plus Mom & Dad out in the trailer) and it’s AMAZING how much trash accumulates, even when most folks are gone all day. And I can only imagine the water bill, especially with (get this) those crazy teenage boys who take FOREVER in the shower!!! Ha! (Isn’t it supposed to be girls who spend too long in the bathroom?! Nuh-uh!) It’s been quite humorous to watch 6 guys (four single, two married) share one bathroom. Brother Clarkson often sits around with a pile of clothes and soap and toothbrush in his lap for the longest time, waiting for his turn. It seems like it’s an hour or more sometimes before the door finally opens—usually after he’s gone and pounded on the door multiple times. “Are you awake in there???” Ha!

It was a beautiful day on Wednesday. The kids spent most of the day riding scooters and running hither and yon outside. The boys were all excited (upset, not happy) to see a big blue heron. My Dad had told them that it’s illegal to kill them, but if they ever saw one to throw rocks at it and scare it off before it eats all of the big fish from his pond. The boys enjoyed that mission.

We had used up the bottle of tester strips for the hot tub, so I couldn’t check the PH and Chlorine levels, but I went ahead and let the kids get in. It had been okay the day before, right? Mom came home a little while later and found a new bottle of tester strips. The strip registered NO Chlorine. It takes 8 to 24 hours for hot tub rash to appear so we don’t know affirmatively, but I’m assuming this means I have effectively re-speckled the children. I am so cool.

I emptied out the refrigerator and made all of the kids eat left-overs for lunch. We emptied several things and I threw away several others. We spent some time cleaning the house up, then I let the kids watch Facing the Giants for quiet time. We only had one or two sleepers today. Most of them stayed awake for the movie.

Then it was time to start showering children. They stink, of course, especially the boys. Ah, yes—BOYS STINK. Not just mine—all of them, even the big boys. The two Baldwin boys, Aaron, and Kody are all staying up in Mom’s office. The other day I had to go up there for something while they were gone. I only made it about half way up the stairs before I could SMELL “boys,” strongly! It’s amazing. None of those guys are gross or dirty, but somehow boys’ rooms always just reek of “BOYS.” The Brothers Baldwin (!) especially just look squeaky clean all the time, but it doesn’t seem to matter. They are still boys. And to be clear, the BOYS don’t stink (that I’ve noticed, anyway—ha!), just their room. Three or four years ago we were at a friend’s house and all of the girls were playing in one room, all of the boys in another. The girls’ room smelled perfectly normal, like the rest of the house. The boys room just about knocked you over when you approached the door! And it was LITTLE kids—the oldest one was about 8 years old. It’s a phenomenon, for sure.

ANYWAY, the kids (especially the boys) needed to be showered before church, and nails had to be clipped in anticipation of the feetwashing service. :-)

My kids and I went to Steak ~n~ Shake with the Hays before service. YUM. The kid waiter we had (he looked about 14 years old!) took me seriously when I asked him to be generous with the Frisco sauce. Oh, happy day! Cathy Horton had given Katie $5 the other day for whenever she was able to beg me into taking her to Steak ~n~ Shake, so she ordered one of those HUGE milkshakes. Crazy girl. The O’Dells and Williams showed up while we were there and Bad Jimmy came over long enough to mess up my hair. I returned the favor as we were leaving. Creep-o. ;-)

I enjoyed the Communion and Feetwashing service that night, but I was very tired and had a hard time focusing. Still, it was a blessing. I’m ALWAYS blessed by that service.

We came straight home that night and tried to go straight to bed. I think it was almost midnight before I actually got there, but I sure tried!

No great pictures from today. Actually, they're pretty good I think, just nothing new. My boys with more fish. :-)