Lessons on Chaos

As I’ve been explaining our family chaos this last week it occurred to me that some of you may not know our family situation. So I’ll explain. Mr. J and I have nine daughters and one son. (Yes, he is the last child—the tithing child!) All of them live far away except for D5 who lives nearby. D1 (has six sons) lives in South Carolina, D2 (has three sons and one daughter) lives in California, D3 (has four sons and one daughter) lives in Tennessee, D4 (has four sons) lives in California, D5 (has one son) lives in Orem, Utah!!!! D6 (has one daughter, one son, and another son on the way) lives in California, D7 (has two sons and two daughters) lives in Texas, and D8 (has two sons, one daughter and a baby of unknown gender on the way) has been living in Mauritania, Africa, for the past two years but is now relocating to Seattle, Washington. Our ninth daughter died, and our son (has one son, one daughter, and one baby on the way) live in Utah, but a four hour drive away.

If you were doing the math you know that adds up to 9 children, 9 spouses, and 31 grandchildren. Since most of them live far away, when they come to visit they stay here which means 51 people—thus the chaos. D1 and her six boys didn’t come, but everyone else has been here. It has been fun, but wild! What isn’t broken in the house is dirty, but they will soon all be gone and while we are patching and cleaning up we will miss them. 

The older I get the more I realize what a blessing families are. But the older I get the harder it is to show them how much I love them. This old body just doesn’t do what it used to do. Since Grizelda loud noises literally hurt my head, and this week I am going through another procedure for skin cancer on my face which means I can’t be out in the sun with them. But I’ve managed individual time to snuggle on the couch to read or talk or giggle with each of the grandchildren individually—usually in the mornings before their parents are awake. I love it and will miss that part of the visit.

In short, the past two weeks have expanded my understanding of what Lehi meant when he said, “It must needs be that there is an opposition in all things” (2 Nephi 2:11). Every experience, every situation has it’s joy and it’s pain and we just have to choose which we are going to cling to and remember.