15 and 4 days

Hello all,

Boy do I have a lot to tell you all! Well for all of those you did not know, I spent the last four days taking care of 14 toddlers and one baby. Yes I did have help. It wasn’t just me and 15 little ones. 10 of the manangs went on vacation so that left 10 of us to hold the fort down while they were gone. Needless to say all of us that stayed are exhausted and quite happy when vacation was over. When I’m not teaching, you can usually find me in the kitchen. The toddlers was basically foreign territory for me. I felt very under qualified and overwhelmed with the prospect of being the manang in charge of them for four days. Lots of prayer from myself and others were said through those days.

First things first, I consider it a success. I didn’t lose anyone nor did anyone suffer any grievous bodily harm! Always a great thing right?! Man do I now have great respect for the manangs normally in the toddlers room and all those who work at preschools or just have lots of kids. It is exhausting to the core! I am so tired and sore! Bending over to bath the kids, up and down out of the cribs or on the changing table and holding the baby, I found muscles I clearly don’t use in my daily activities.

It was a wonderful, fun, joyful, crazy, chaotic and difficult four days. Every day I prayed for physical and mental strength to weather the day, peace amidst the chaos and slow to frustration no matter what tomfoolery the kids pulled. Faithfully, like always, God answered each one. It was a joy getting to know those kids on a deeper level. I got to see and figure out their little quirks. One little boy always put soap bubbles on his face like eye black when in the bath and said he was a football player. Another little boy and I would make animal sounds back and forth and guess which animal it was. Cow and carabo were always hard to tell apart. Making them laugh while changing their diapers made the task more enjoying. Rocking or patting them to sleep. Watching them make musical instruments out of giant legos. Milk mustaches. Those were the wonderful moments. After four days with them, I now know food keeps them happy, little kid armpits get really dirty, pacifiers are off buttons, scratching their heads make them fall asleep, climbing trees provides hours of entertainment and milk makes babies fall asleep J

So there were those moments of chaos. They all wanted baths at the same time, hard to do when there is 15 of them and one of me. The baby was crying because she wanted to be held but some of them needed their diapers changed. Lunch was late so they were grumpy. Frantic rushes to the bathroom only to miss by a few feet. Reluctance to take a nap, but how many kids like to take a nap when they just want to play? I had a few moments when the little ones were crying because they were wet, the baby was crying since I wasn’t holding her, the older ones were doing their best to talk over the crying ones and I’m just standing there thinking what to do, what to do?? BOOKS, PUZZLES and BINKY!! They make them all happy J

I’ve done some pretty messy things in my life. But I have never been so dirty and smelly in my entire life as these past four days. The combo of hot weather and chasing after kids made for very sweaty days, I would have pee on my clothes from leaky diapers, spit-up from the baby and food from feeding them. Baths felt like such a treat!

Even though it was chaotic, difficult and exhausting, it was a joy to bless the manangs. I now fully understand how hard they work and how difficult it is. It is always refreshing to be in someone else’s shoes for a while. You come to love and appreciate them for all the work they do and thankful for what you have. Your perspective widens. It was amazing to see how God used the time to work in me. To fully put my own needs behind everyone else. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t overwhelmed. But I kept the promise that God only gives you what you can handle. So if He thought I could handle it then I would too. And when I would be overwhelmed, I would just take a few breaths and pray, and I would have this peace that its okay. Just deal with one thing at a time and it will all work out. And it would. It was a wonderful opportunity to be a blessing to the manangs, getting to know the kids significantly better and truly having to rely on God for his strength and wisdom to get me through the day!

God bless all,

                        Kelsey

Ps, you know you have been with toddlers for a while when you see nutella on bread and think its poop J