Rainy Days.

My ideal way to spend a rainy cold evening is curled up in a cuddly blanket, reading a good book, with a cup of cocoa or hot tea nearby.  As with most ideals this never happens or at least hasn't in as long as I can remember.  The reality is that there are always 2 little ones around that seem to need more attention and entertaining on rainy days.

We had one such evening last Friday night.  We had a full day already and by late afternoon I wanted nothing more than to slip my warm p.j.'s on throw on a movie and settle in.  This was not on the cards however, since we had already committed to having 4 children from church over from after school until the youth group that night at 7.  Their mother is out of the country for a month, so we thought we would give the dad a bit of a break.  The kids are 13, 9, 6, and 4 and wonderful but absolutely FULL of energy.

We were sitting here amidst flying balls and children literally running all around the room when I was thinking, what can we do to occupy all of them without planting them in front of a tv which I hate.

 Ed was on wrestle duty.  They all had a blast.

What was something kids from 3-13 are interested in that I already had on hand, that wouldn't end up with something or someone broken? 

Cooking of course.  We pulled out my new and much loved mixer, broke out my favourite cookie recipe, all donned aprons, and set to work.  It was so much fun working there together, albeit  a little bit messy.  We had one egg on the floor, a bit of flour everywhere, and lots of sticky fingers, but in the end we had some yummy cookies to take a share with the other young people at the youth group that night and even some for them to take home as a treat.  

 Tilly and Favour manning the mixer

 Emmanuel toasting the pecans (sorry slightly blurry, need to use my real camera instead of the iPhone)

Tilly always ready to pose.

Here we are joined by Glory, Rejoyce, and Nathan as we rolled out the cookie balls. Ignore my scary look think I must have been watching Nathan doing something.

Nate is always ready with a helping hand.

We had a blast with the kids and when the night was over sleep came sweetly.  

Doing this also made me think about how important it is to add doing things like this to our schedule.   I am so incredibly blessed to have someone working along with me, but not everyone is.  I'm sure we all know single parents balancing it all on their own and working non-stop to do it.  I just encourage anyone reading this to think about how you can help, whether it's a meal to ease that need, or taking the kids for a while to give them some down time.  Or men if it means you looking to be a role model for kids, especially boys who don't have dads in their lives.  Also if you are a single parent, or even if you aren't and you need some help, please reach out and ask.  Sometimes people are willing and able they just don't know where to start, and until we are involved in each others lives and getting to know each other better we don't know where there is an opportunity to serve.   This week try to do something to make a difference.