Slaves

A woman came to my home for the first time this week to talk about food storage and Shelf Reliance.  Her first question was if my "income" with Shelf Reliance allowed me to live in our big home with nice furnishings.  Um... no!  Her next question was if I had any kids.  Um... yep!  I was surprised by her question.  How could she not know that I had kids???  I looked around the front room and had to admit that it was pretty clean on the surface.  I could easily see the hand prints on the piano, the dirty mess that is our microfiber couch, the sheer curtains that are no longer sheer do to the stains, and on and on.  I loved how her eyes bulged when I told her I had 5.  Then, as if a light turned on above her head, she said, "Oh, with five kids to clean, your house must always be clean."  Um... no & yes.  I have at least one toddler at all times in this house.  Most of the day there are three children under the age of 4 (3 more days!) running around.  Then, for the rest of the night, I still have 5 kids that make their own kind of messes.  I'll admit, not all of the messes are caused by the kids.  So, it feels like there is always something going on in this house; from making forts, to emptying the toy box ("playing"), to simply just investigating the house, there is always noise and mess at the Dirks'.  So, no, the kids aren't the reason the house is always clean.  Just the opposite in fact.  However, they are the ones that help clean up said mess.  We have our "games" to help "the medicine go down," but for the most part, it's still a struggle.  Brennon's "stomach hurts when he as to clean out the silverware from the dishwasher."  Keilie ALWAYS has to go to the bathroom when it's her turn to clean out the dishwasher!  Shelby ALWAYS says the mess is too big.  Ty just walks around taking out what the kids' put away.  Caden really should be complaining because he doesn't do most of the mess, but I still make him clean.  Tonight the house was pretty trashed.  Before our bedtime routine, I said we all had to clean up 100 things.  Shelby cleaned the 4 decks of cards she threw all over the front room.  Brennon cleaned up all of the toys from the toy box that he'd emptied.  Ty just walked around.  Caden cleaned out the dishwasher.  Keilie did random stuff.  Let me tell you, the house is clean!  So, my argument is this.  5 kids made a HUGE mess.  However, 5 kids are wonderful slaves.  After all, why else would a sane couple have so many?!  That's how the world views our choice!  We've heard as much.  Maybe not in so many words:)