The past couple of weeks the number of kids in attendance has really grown. Word is getting out that our xbox is cool, our food is good, and our family isn't so bad either. And for the most part, these boys are really sweet and good-hearted boys. But they are boys. And when you put, say, FOURTEEN of them in one house playing (that doesn't include our five children we already have) things get chaotic so fast. I realized...maybe that is why God gave me 5 chaotic kiddos...how else would I be able to deal with 14 additional chaotic ones....
Well. Last night was extra crazy. I don't know if it was because it was cold outside so they were all trying to squeeze in our walls or what. I had to get on them several times about arguing, yelling, listening when I spoke. Again, they usually do pretty well. After dinner we were trying to get started with bible study but I knew they had left a mess upstairs. I told them to go clean up and they all wanted to point fingers on who made the mess. I think they forgot I AM A MOM and mama don't play that. I sent them all to help and the next thing I knew Legos were flying over the second story rail downstairs. Which is a no no around these parts.
Stuart and I already had discussed "consequences" for continual misbehavior or disrespect. After all, we are opening our home to these boys and expect they treat our home with kindness. So he sent them all home. He just told them we had talked to them several times that night about respect and it wasn't happening so we were done for the evening and we would try again next week.
You can imagine that went well. They weren't so much mad at us (I think most of them knew they were in the wrong and were out of control) but the finger pointing started again. So much that this one kid got super upset. He is 9 and VERY active and hard to contain. He is so incredibly sweet but is usually bouncing off the walls. He started yelling and crying so I kept him behind so he wasn't released on the neighborhood streets with his temper flaring.
I sat him down and explained that we all mess up. We all make poor choices. And then we get up and try again with a clean slate and that is called GRACE. I told him we would try again next Thursday and no one was angry with him. That concept of grace was foreign to him. I wanted him to know that even though tonight wasn't ideal, we still care for him deeply and we get to try it again.
Life is messy and full of times we screw it all up and I am so thankful I always get to try it again. When one of my kids has had a particularly rough day, the last thing I tell them (well, next to last, I suppose "I love you" is the last thing) before bedtime is, "Tomorrow is a new day." God's mercies are new every morning. I know I need that. My kids need that. These boys need that. Every day His mercies are new. He is and does sustain us through the rest of it all.
The lessons didn't stop there. I had a sweet conversation with my kids after the boys all left about discipline, love, respect, and grace. They were able to see all of those things we talk so much about outside of their own emotional experiences. All the things we teach to them separate from their own emotions. They knew the boys had overstepped their boundaries. I told them how it was an opportunity to teach grace when many of those boys had never heard that word before. I pray that through these crazy moments, the Lord continually draws my children to Himself. That they will open their hearts and their lives to other messy, broken, chaotic people. Because we are messy, broken, and chaotic and the Lord has been gracious to show us that, in turn, showing us our need for Him. Our need for grace. Our need for those new mercies every morning. Our need for a Savior.
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