Apparently, we are an oddity.  I really have a difficult time getting through a grocery store without being stopped numerous times by people asking incredulously if all those kids are mine?!?!?!  David, Jr (7) finds it rather amusing.  If I had a dollar for every time someone told me I have my hands full...well, I could send all of these kids to college without them having to work for it at all!!

I've heard of people talking bad about larger families, but no one has ever shared their comments with me.  It does crack me up when people see all of my kids and then ask me if I know about the Duggar Family ...as if somehow having 5 kids is even comparable to having 17 .  Most of the time, people smile at us, say something sweet to the kids, squeeze a baby's cheeks... I suppose, occasionally I probably do get nasty stares...but that's most likely when I'm utterly consumed with maintaining order among the ranks or perhaps when the dynamic duo of Susanna (2) and Sammy (1) are absolutely DONE shopping happily.  So, I'll pretend it never happens.

My hard-working hubby has been working non-stop for the last 2 weeks or so...and I do mean non-stop...it's 11:30pm on Friday night right now and he's still working...poor guy!!  He had a deadline move on him by about 6 weeks, so we'll be out of these woods in another week or so, but in the meantime, he can be found at work.  So, anyway...my trusty kitchen companion...something I managed to live without until 18 months ago and now can't envision being without ever again...my dishwasher...died last night.  So the kids and I headed to town FIRST THING today to get us a new one...yes, I'm spoiled...it just didn't really even feel like an option to wait .  After spending way too long at Sears, it was lunch time and since I didn't have a dishwasher at home and since we still needed to go to another store, and since I wanted to treat the kids to make the day special, and, well, since I had a hankerin', we headed to Steak 'n Shake instead of our usual drive through at Chik-fil-A on these types of days.

About as soon as we got seated and got Steak-n-Shake hats on all who wanted them...and got crackers in Sammy's mouth to make him content for 2.2 seconds, an older lady came up and put her arm around me and asked me if I was enjoying these kids...at that moment, I could honestly say, "yes"...and not just in "theory"...I really was enjoying them (Honestly, I'm more prone to be caught up in the "stuff" that needs to get done and many times have to force myself to ENJOY them!!)  She went on to share that she'd had 5 kids and they all turned out beautifully.  I thanked her for taking the time to encourage me and she went back to her table.  (My 7-year-old still can't figure out why perfect strangers like to talk to us .)  About 10 minutes later, the lady stopped by our table on her way out the door and slipped $20 onto the table to help cover our meal...She paid for our meal!!!!  Is that not the sweetest expression?  David was absolutely incredulous and later asked why I didn't share the money with all of the kids since they're why she gave it to me . 

I'm not really sure what my point to this rambling post is...I just wanted to share...and you can be sure that I will be doing the same for someone else someday!!