Leading the Life I'm Assigned

In the middle of the night tonight, I will be leaving for a 12 hour road trip with 6 kids.  We're off to visit my sister in Illinois.  The kids have been packed for days and are nearly jumping out of their skin with excitement - me, not so much!  I am not the best at long-distance driving which is why my oldest daughter absolutely had to come in order to take shifts driving.  I also have no husband support as he and my oldest sons have to stay back and do school and work.  So that won't make it as fun either.  However, what is keeping me going is the change of pace for the kids and the fun of seeing my sister and her place as well as her new crew of foster kids which are around the same age as my little guys.

I also wish my sister lived in Florida like she used to!!!  That would make my 12 hour drive so great to know there was sun at the end of it all!!!  I'll be driving to exactly the same weather - cold and snow.  But, enough with the complaining - it will be fun in a lot of ways, too.  I'll get to be with my kids who will get to listen to me for 12 hours non-stop.  Love that.  I will also get to play some of the creation cds I've never been able to play them like I did for the older kids.  It will be fun to eat fast food - I love fast food!!!  And that is rarely on the menu as it is so expensive and so bad for us!  That makes it a great treat.

I do love driving to places, too.  I love visiting people more than anything in my life.  I only wish I had more time and more money to go somewhere longer.  I would just keep driving if I could.  Who do I know in Florida that I could visit????  I wish I could pull that off.....

So for now, it is Illinois and I can be content with that.  Sister and brother-in-law time will be fun for everyone.  Their house is basically as full as our's now.  Though not all of their's live at home, they now have 8 children as well!  If we only knew that when we were kids we'd have 16 children between the two of us.  Wow.

What has helped me and the kids lately is a verse I refound yesterday.  It puts everything in perspective.  It helps me with any complaining or grumbling that I do and it helps me when the kids start grumbling and complaining about their situations.  Here it is,

"Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him."  1 Cor. 7:17

My kids often dislike that not everything is done in our house like other people we know, "Will we ever have a 'normal' house?"  They'll complain about their birth order, "I hate being the first born!" or "Why can't I do what the older kids are doing?"  They'll complain that we're only going to a cold place, not a hot place.  Ok, I admit it, that was me, not them.  They'll wish their siblings didn't exist sometimes and maybe they even wish they had funner (is that a word?) parents.

But yesterday, when I read that to them, I reminded them, "This is the life you were assigned.  You have to lead THAT life, not a different one."  It's always always always about contentment, isn't it?  Wishing you had a different life, thinking that somehow it would be more fun and more satisfying if you were in a different situation.  Even if that were somehow true and possible, that you could switch into someone else's shoes, I don't think it would make anyone happy long term.  I'm pretty sure it would just lead to more discontentment.  We have to seek contentment in the situation that we are assigned and called to.

The test for me never ends.  I know all the things I tell my kids to be true, but I have to believe it for myself, not just for them.  I have to practice contentment on a regular basis and that is hard work!

The antidote is always the same - gratefulness.  I have so many things to be grateful for.  I need to make the list out loud with them and in my own head. 

So, it will be a great trip!  Cold or not, it will be fun and it will be an adventure and it will be long, but we will come away with great memories guaranteed!  Can't wait.....