"How do you do it?"

I have 8 super-duper, fantastic children!! When people find out how many children I have, many times I'm asked, "How do you do it"? My response varies...

• Sometimes I say, "I don't know" because I'm amazed at the capacity I've been blessed with to handle my responsibilities. 
• Other times I respond with, "I take it a day at a time" because when life gets tough, you truly need to look at the day's tasks and not get overwhelmed with everything that's on your plate. 
• "Lots of prayers" is another response. Managing a family of 10 is a daunting task at times, and I need the Lord's help! He's given me my children and he knows what's best for them. I need to ask Him how to handle situations and allow Him to lead me.
• "My husband is awesome". He supports me in all that we do.
• Lately, my response is: "I utilize my older children". I couldn't handle it all if it were not for them. Just recently...

 We're trying to have Family Night, carve pumpkins, make dinner, go over chores, and get to bed at a decent time. Bright idea: have the older kids help the younger kids carve their pumpkins while I make dinner. It was a brilliant plan. Here's an older helping a younger:

Pairing up children builds unity, encourages patience, assists with getting the task at hand accomplished, creates a "buddy system", establishes a role-model/example and teaches age-related lessons to both parties.

Utilize your helpers...boy, does it pay off. We enjoyed a nice dinner of orange chicken/rice, corn, bread and 6 jack o'lanterns smiling on the front porch while I was smiling in the kitchen.

More to come, but until then....Stick-to-it!