Another frequently asked question is “How do you do it?” We really don’t know how to answer this question because it isn’t very specific. The question most often seems rhetorical because people who ask it usually add a statement like, “We only have two kids and it’s more than we can handle!”
But we get it… we too have asked people “How do you do it?” We asked it of our Pastor when he itinerated as a missionary for so long. He traveled week after week all across the US to speak and raise support for his family, his ministry and his mission. I asked, “How do you do it?” of my sister-in-law as she worked the night shift in a hospital as a labor and delivery nurse for many, many years. I ask it of my friend who travels to take care of her ailing mother every other week and is away from her own family for a week or more at a time! Yes, we also ask… “How do you do it!?” and many times the response is “You just do it!”
God gives you the grace and strength to do what needs to be done. Its grace for the moment and it only comes when you need it… not before. Beyond this, I believe many of my friends are living out a certain calling to do these things, and we understand that as well. We have a calling to build and take care of our big family!
So, since “How do you do it?” is mostly a rhetorical question, we have decided to create a little series of posts to share with you how we do a few things. So here goes…
How do you do it? – How do you add another family member to a house that never gets bigger?
So, here now is some of the story related to how we do it…
We moved into our current home in 2011. Before we moved in we thought a lot about who would have each room, but the truth is, not one family member is in their original room that they were assigned when we first moved in! We are not sure of the exact number of “moves” that we have made within our house, but we would guess that it is close to ten moves in the less than 4 years we have been here. All of this movement has come from the fact that we have added three more family members since the time we moved in!
New family members and changes in our kids phases or seasons of life (kids moving into grade school, middle school and high school) have contributed to our decisions to turn over rooming arrangements. We don’t make these moves this easily or haphazardly. The truth is, we think and even pray about these moves weeks in advance.. Todd and I prayerfully weigh out our kids needs. We consider things like…do these siblings work well together? Are the times that they need to get up (and go to bed) times that can correlate well? Not to mention, that most of the time a move doesn’t just involve one or two bedrooms. It often effects three or more and includes the furniture and beds.
Of course, Todd and I started in the “master” bedroom but we very quickly came to the conclusion that we didn’t need that much space when 4 kids could fit in the master bedroom and also use the larger bathroom more efficiently. So, we gave up the larger bedroom and moved up stairs, however, because we are expecting number 11 soon we recently did another turnover of rooms which included the idea of us moving our bedroom to the basement. Of course, this required that we revamp the basement closets to accommodate a clothing closet. Along with building a clothes closet, Todd took on the project of rebuilding and redoing toy/game and storage closets as well. Our latest move also included the idea of moving all of our boys together into one room. The only trouble with this idea was that we didn’t have bunk beds to accommodate them. Thankfully Todd and his good friend Chris are pretty resourceful and cobbled up enough wood to build two new bunk beds! We moved a full bed and crib in another room to make accommodate the new baby. Amazingly, we have an extra bed at the moment!
Anyway, How do you add new family members to a house that never gets bigger? By being super flexible and open to doing what needs to be done for the good of everyone in the family.
So, in just a few weeks our house will grow by two more feet even though our square footage will remain the same!
“The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps”
~ Proverbs 16:9~