Five Men and a Baby

We felt called and have the ability to help out a couple of young men who, through circumstances outside of their control, needed a place to crash. They have been with us for a couple of weeks now and will continue to be until they graduate high school and move on to their perspective AIT schools in mid June (both in the National Guard). They are good men, will graduate from Lincoln with honors, and have a wicked sense of humor so fit right in to our family. They are also great with the little man, who LOVES having all these guys around. There is never a dull moment in this house. However, having 5 men and a baby is a challenge, to say the least. We have friends who have larger families than this and I applaud them! 

Where do I put all these people? When I brought the oldest home from college he took over his usual space, the den with the pull out couch and all the amenities. So we now have my middle son sharing his room with our two guests. There are two beds in there with another twin mattress tucked under that is pulled out at night. The beds are just for crashing, though, because frankly that room has turned into gaming central. There are two large TVs in there with every imaginable system hooked up as well as the computer in the corner with it's dual screens. Apparently, we can't all play the same game at the same time on ONE TV. To top it off, another TV was brought in last night and hooked up in the basement with even more systems. Wow! The extra TVs actually belong to our guests who obviously came with LOTS of electronics...and baggage...

We have set up a system in the bathroom so that each one has a hook for a towel with their names above it and a laundry bag system, again, labeled for their convenience. Should anything actually end up in there remains to be seen as most of the time the floor is carpeted with clothing...clean, dirty? Who knows... I don't do it. I've showed them all how to use the machines, good luck with that. There are several large built in drawers in that bathroom so they have each been given drawers for their clothing and half of a closet to hang things. The good thing, I suppose, is they are all going military so they might as well get used to sharing tight quarters. 

Food! Oy! Can you keep enough food in the house for men? Short answer...NO! I try to cook a few meals a week and have pizza, sandwich, or hot dog nights to offset that. Thankfully, because they are all in school until May 24th they eat breakfast and lunch there during the week. My job is just to provide dinners. They are responsible for their own snacking. I will say, that I have loved having a full table for dinner. We laugh and listen to them tell stories and share our day. Nothing beats that in my book. 

Is it tight? Yes. Is it chaotic? Yes. Would I change anything? No. We have been blessed by these boys and hope that God will bless them while they are in our home and in their futures.

Until next time,

Julie