Sometimes It Just Can't Get Any Better

It is 12:30 a.m. Mexico time (2:30 a.m. Eastern Standard Time)...not my usual hour to write a blog, but some things just have to be said when they have to be said!

I just got done saying goodnight (good morning?) to six of the most precious young ladies on the face of the earth: Diana, Martita, Lolis, Martha, Fatima and Joce, who, by the grace of God, just happen to be my daughters!  We just finished watching a good romantic comedy.  You know, the kind with the great happy ending (that really makes you miss your husband when he is out of town!).  We laughed, ate lots of ice cream, 3 liters of Coca Cola and two bags of chips.  See what I mean when I say that "sometimes it just can't get any better"?

In all seriousness, tonight was our now near traditional "girls movie night when Dad is on crusade".  However, in order to not instill jealousy into the others who don't fit into the adolescent/teen girl bracket, I have extended the tradition this weekend.  Earlier this evening it was the seven youngest, plus Alejandro, and I watching a family friendly dog movie.  Tomorrow night it will be my other three middle boys (a movie with enough violence to make them happy and not enough violence to offend Mom:-)...good luck finding one like that!  So, you see, there are perks to having 18 kids...I get ice cream, pop and chips three times this weekend!  (Somebody please warn my bathroom scale before I step on it Monday morning!)

The two people missing in all of this chip-eating, soda-guzzling, giggling, movie mania?  Victor, the earthly love of my life, and Angie, our eldest!  They are both on one of Fishers of Men's longest crusades of the year (nine days) to the garbage dumps in the city of Puerto Vallarta and then on up into the mountains of the state of Jalisco to some remote and very needy villages.    See what I mean when I say that "sometimes it just can't get any better"?

What could be better than knowing that you are living out the purpose for which you were created in your mother's womb? What could be better than enjoying movie, laughter, fun and food with your kids?  What could be better than knowing that your husband and eldest daughter are sacrificially carrying the love of Jesus Christ in tangible ways to people desperate for hope and healing?

WHAT COULD BE BETTER THAN KNOWING JESUS CHRIST?

"But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.  What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith."  Philippians 3:7-9

"Preach it, Paul!" (The Apostle Paul, that is!)

I am so thankful that nearly each day this last week there was an additional staff member/volunteer here to help us out while Victor is gone:  Nayeli is a young woman who comes three times a week to do laundry...she is quiet and many times we don't even notice her as she goes about her tasks!  However I do notice she has been here, once she has left, when I go to get the little boys dressed the next day and find their little underwear, socks, t-shirts and pants all neatly folded in their drawers and hung in their closet!  You may have never thought about it, but doing laundry for Jesus is a beautiful ministry!  And what a blessing to our lives!

Mireya is a local homeschooling mom who began coming to the Ranch three times a week in order for us to help her teenage son with his English.  Shen then offered her volunteer services in exchange.  Well, she gives much more than she receives!  She now handles all of our first grade Spanish students (Carolina, Ruth and Bernabe...and now Ana and Berenice have joined the class!) three mornings a week and helps out with the older kids on those afternoons. 

But, tomorrow and Sunday it's just me and the 17 (remember, Angie is on crusade with Victor).  What  a huge privilege, honor and joy!

Remember I opened by saying that some things just need to be said when they need to be said?  I needed to write this blog right now because by 3 p.m. tomorrow afternoon when the Saturday chores are not nearly as far along as I would like (happens every week!), when the bickering is at a daily high, when three of the older girls leave for liturgical dance practice, thereby reducing the number of hands available for the unfinished chores, when I can't figure out what to make for supper while getting Saturday baths and showers started, I will need to reread tonight's blog to remember that while "sometimes it just can't get any better", there are many times when it could truly be a whole lot better!  Like earlier this week when we were right on schedule (mind you it was only 8:15 a.m.), when the hot water hose under the sink began to spew all over the kitchen.  Five or so kids quickly grabbed all available brooms and tried to sweep the water out the door as quickly as it was pouring onto the floor; while I sent three of the boys up the hill to turn off the main water hose that feeds our house from the water tank; while I called Cirino (our mason and farmhand) to quickly come to our aid (while Daniel began to explore the quickly forming puddles in the kitchen thinking that this being able to splash in puddles inside the house was a pretty cool thing)!  I'm not sure exactly how the math works in all of this, but while that situation really only took about 30-45 minutes to control and remedy, it seriously set me back an entire morning.  Oh yeah, then I had to give out medicine to at least nine of the kids suffering from a cold (another 2012 crusade tradition: the kids get sick while Dad is gone), which took about an hour and then....well, I really don't know what then, all I know is that we finished breakfast, flooded the kitchen, gave out medicine and then it was, well, time to make lunch!  It was one of the "many times that anything would be better" (otherwise known as: "the many times it just can't get any worse"), which makes it all more important to remember the few "sometimes when it just can't get any better".

So, to help along the "sometimes it just can't get any better" cause of the night, here are a few more snapshots from this week.

I was in school and had just handed 7 year old Caleb a math test.  He took it over to the testing table and sat down.  A few seconds later I glanced over at him, my heart jumped into my throat and my eyes immediately teared up.  There he was, my precious 7 year old Caleb, with his little blond head bowed, his gentle eyes closed and his hands folded in his lap, praying before he started his test!  Praise Jesus!  Thank you, Jesus! May Caleb forever seek Your wisdom and help that way!

I was quickly going back and forth from the warehouse/kitchen/dining room, where we prepare and eat lunch and supper, and our house, getting dishes and ingredients for the next meal to be prepared, when my ears were greeted with a beautiful sound.  Ruth and Carolina, both 6 years old, were singing praises at the top of their lungs while seated underneath the treehouse-in-process.  They had the play guitar, their baby dolls and an audience of One.  Add to that the late afternoon sun and the smell of dry leaves and the entire scene was heavenly!  (We are in the middle of dry season here and it feels like an unseasonably warm late September back in southeast Michigan where I grew up...must of the leaves have fallen off the trees, just brown, no bright colors, so now they crinkle under our feet and send off that musty aroma warmed by a late afternoon sun....just delicious!)

 Ruth and her dolly

Carolina singing praises

Finally, Ana, oh our little Ana (five years old).  I was in my office finishing up devotions the other morning when Victor called for his daily "good morning" call while on crusade.  I picked up the phone in the office and Ana picked up the phone downstairs.  She heard Victor and I talking and then asked:  "Mommy, why are you in the office and not down here?"  "Well, Ana, I was finishing up my devotions when Daddy called."  Up to that point, I had not realized that the other little ones, at least David and Daniel, were also awake and in the living room.  I then hear Ana yell, both through the phone and reverburating through the house, "Hey, kids, come and say hi to Mom!  She's on the phone!"  No matter that I was also simply upstairs in the office, nor did it matter that I was the parent with them 24/7 for these nine days and that the one they really needed to say "hi" to on the phone was Daddy!  The rest of them must have figured it out because nobody came to the phone to say hi to Mommy!

Here Ana is helping chop up tomatoes 

for one of the meals this week.

One of the things that the kids enjoy when Victor and most of our staff are gone on crusades is that I have to do the cooking...although I do very little cooking and a whole lot of instructing as the kids are great about pitching in!  Diana made a mean spaghetti dinner with garlic bread tonight and Martita took the initiative to make homemade jello for everybody...and not just any jello (different flavors, different colors, some two-toned, some milk-based and some water-based!).  

Cooking with your kids....sometimes it just can't get any better!

 

Then there is our three year old virtuoso piano player, David!  (Actually, he simply loves "playing along" with pre-recorded Demo songs!)  He might not be a virtouso piano player... yet, (the kid has a ton of musical interest and talent) but he does do a pretty convincing acting job!

I am praying that the  Lord will bless you with some "Sometimes It Just Can't Get Any Better" moments soon!