* Nieces

We spent the last week hosting my two nieces. We have hosted the eldest for the last two summers and this year the youngest made her first appearance. We had a wonderful visit, no injuries and everyone retreated to their separate homes still happy with one another. The timing for a visit to be over is critical. You never want it to last too long that someone is miserable, no matter how much fun the first days are you only remember the sadness of the final one. This was something we watched closely since my little niece was so young. Fortunately there were tons of new toys to investigate along with two elder cousins and a big sister to keep up with. We timed her return to mom perfectly, another 24 hours would probably been too much and she was quite sure she did not want to go back home with me when she met her mom for lunch on Sunday. I thought I would share what I learned this week...

1. Apparently we had been using some things that did not belong to us. Without our knowledge we had inadvertently been using all my youngest nieces possessions. This she was quick to point out when we picked up an item. "Mine" Imagine the surprise my children had when they discovered the toys were not actually theirs but rather the property of an almost two year old that lives 100 miles away.
2. Seven year olds make great baby sitters. For those who thought I would have a hard time with four children on my own - you needed not fear. My seven year old assistant did much of the labor and I was only called upon for food, which occurred several times a day. I would offer to do some things only to be told by the smallest member of the group that De-De would do it - more bon bons for me.
3. Prayers for 4 children takes logarithmically more time than 1 or 2 especially if you go in a round. Each will take progressively more time in order to bless more obscure relatives than the last, except for the boy who will quickly utter a two sentence ditty to speed things along and the youngest girl who says nothing but clasps her hands in an adorable fashion and says A-men when cued. So I guess it really is the two middle girls who prayed the most and it just seemed like tons of kids. Believe me if you are even distantly related to us - you are covered.
4. In a house with three princesses the middle one will have the hardest time of it. The eldest will rest in her eldest status and mentally grasp the need to let the little ones occasionally take the lead. The youngest still lives in a world where everything is hers and does not know the cold reality of the world yet. The youngest will have things given to her by the prince of the house by virtue of her being small and just because "she asked for it." This means that sometimes the item in question will be removed from the hands of the middle princess who finds it all very confusing because in her day to day world she is the smallest and is used to ruling her kingdom without sharing the thrown. Unhappy moments were rare, and they all got their fair share but the middle princess seemed the most thrown off by the process.
5. My extended family has good genes. If my beauty was based solely on the beauty of my children I would have no self esteem issues. They are beautiful and this is something that others tell me in an honest way so I feel it to be true. My sisters children are beautiful, they also happen to look a lot like mine (so I know the people in the grocery store this week had to be thinking that poor woman, doesn't she know any better? Or maybe she is one of those people?) So therefore my family has good genes - just ask my mom to show pictures of all her grandchildren- the proof is in the photos.
6. My nuclear family has good but short genes. My eldest niece is two years younger than my son, and they are the same height! My daughter is only 18 months younger than her but could more easily fit into the clothes of my youngest niece. This is unfortunate because that means that my hand me down supply will dry up eventually - when the little one catches up to her - my prediction is one year from now. Oh well.
7. Stair stepping children is a handy way to go about it. I won't name any names but I know some people whom God chose to bless with having their kids in a chunk - efficient, but without the eldest child to run and fetch what the little one needs while you are cooking or to pick up the toy in the back seat while you are driving. In this regards four children in a house is not that overwhelming, at other times four is still four.
8. The most challenging item to keep track of with four children is shoes. My children are trained on the shoe basket so we can usually round up something passable from there if we can't find the exact pair we are looking for. My nieces were not familiar with it so we spent some time looking for shoes for the first couple days - then we stumbled on a solution, which works for my kids most of the time as well. We just left all the shoes in the car - they weren't needed in the house anyway. My son has at times relied on this shoe-in-the-car theory on our way to somewhere, church/Lowe's/grocery only to discover that dad had cleaned out the car and now he has to ride in the buggy because he certainly can't walk around the store with bare feet.
9. I stay up later with four children in the house. After my kids go to bed we generally stay up another 2-3 hours. Good quiet time together or just time for no-one-sitting-pulling-laying -on me. Add two more children and it seems I need another hour to wind down, read, watch tv, check email, work on children's ministry stuff, etc. This is unfortunate because my nieces get up earlier than my children, although I made good progress and we did not see the flip side of seven once and were working our way to eight. Not to go too extreme because they were going home and I won't win any points if they start staying up late after visiting Chelle's house.
10. You knew I had to get to ten right? I got stuck around three and couldn't think of what I was going to write the other day when I got distracted by the 100, luckily it came back to me. However it has tapered off again. I will say I was blessed by this week. I love that I get to be with my children so much, in a world where there are many who want to but can not. I am sooooooo thankful. In that vein I am very grateful that I can spend some time with my nieces and give them a special time. Family is so important, especially in this transient fast food world. I want them to know me and know that I love them. I want their week each summer to be something they look forward to. And when they no longer think I am cool and roll their eyes at the thought of coming to Chelle's house where there is 'learning time' they will know that I love them, even if they remain home and hang out with their friends who will be infinitely more fun that I will be at that time.

Blessings to you girls.