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Leah's Stories - 6/6/2005 10:39:04 PM
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leah777
Posts: 3193
Joined: 4/12/2005
From: Show-Me State
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Well, I'm finally taking the plunge . . .
I've been urged for some time to write up my stories of being raised in a family of 14 kids, and have decided there's no place better to do it than here. So first, I'm gonna give a little background on myself and my family for those who don't already know 
I am the 10th of 14 kids, raised in the country -- 1½ miles to the General Store/Post Office, population 39, but 10 miles to the nearest "town" -- population ~ 1000 . . . . My daddy was a carpenter  -- he really was! Mom, of course, was a mother, homemaker, nursemaid, nurse, teacher, confidante, protector, referee, and just an all-round great Mom
They tried hard, and mostly succeeded in making a great home for us, and I had a happy childhood. Daddy passed away in 1988 and Mom in 2003. I also lost a brother who was 32 in 1975, another brother in 2001, and a sister just last September.
As for church, we were basically bus kids without the bus  . . . once in a while, Mom would make it to church with us, but mostly she, Daddy, or an older brother or sister dropped us off at the local First Baptist Church. The people were friendly and tried to include us, but we weren't there on a real regular basis. I did, however, feel the pull of God on my life at a young age, and gave my heart to the Lord & was baptized at age 12.
I drifted in & out of church through my teens, married Bill who mostly had done the same, and even tho we committed (to each other) to raising our kids in church, we weren't good at following through on that in the beginning. When our daugther was 3, Bill & I decided it was time to get her in church  . . . that meant I was supposed to take her -- he flatly refused. I started to the local First Baptist Church (we lived about 20 miles from where I grew up), and went for 2 years, but never really fit in. I finally gave it up.
When Melissa was 7 we moved to the other side of town and she was invited to go to an A/G church with some neighbor girls. We discussed it, figuring "those people were a little too flaky' for our taste, but since we really did want her in church and we were both adamant about not taking her, we relented and she went. After about a year, she was to be in a program for which the parents' presence was requested. I knew that meant I would be going with my then 4 month old son, so I psyched myself up, called for reinforcements in the guise of a sister-in-law's mother (who, I realized later, had been praying for us for years) and made my way to that "flaky church"  . . . That was nearly 27 years ago, and that chuch is still my "home" . . . . it's been a wonderful walk as I was awakened to the Holy Spirit and to a Jesus I'd never known, and what they can and will do in our life when we invite them in.
Bill & I have just celebrated our 36th wedding anniversary. We have a daughter, 35, who is a veterinarian, and a son, 27, who is in the AF and engaged to be married (Sept wedding planned ). We also have 2 of the most beautiful granddaughters you have ever seen! -- thank you, dd & sil!  . . . they are 7 and 8 (almost 9 ) and live about 1½ hours from us. We kidnap them every chance we get so we can spoil them a bit. They are gymnasts, and each of them took State Championship in their division this year      . . . ok, I'm finished bragging now 
We've gone through many trials in our 36 years of marriage, and I know without God in our home and in our lives, we simply would not still be together. DH still doesn't go to church or really claim any allegiance with the Lord, but I've caught him looking . . . there have been tremendous changes in him that even he has to admit too. He's had many health problems, the most troublesome being bi-polar (diagnosed 25 years ago, hospitalized 4 times for, but no episodes for over 10 years), and a quadruple by-pass 1½ years ago.
In spite of all this, the longest he's ever been out of work at any given time is 4 weeks, and that was for the by-pass surgery. Workaholic that he is, he returned to work in just 4 weeks and one day after the surgery and has worked steadily ever since. God has just been so incredibly good to us!
My health is relatively good, for which I am very thankful. I'm going through that dreaded change of life thing, and stuff is going on that slows me down considerably, but I know this too shall pass . . . .
I am presently working as a "para" (teacher's aide) in an early childhood development center for special needs children. I finished out 6 weeks of the regular school year working afternoons there, then was hired for the summer school program, working mornings 9-12. I love it, but I have to admit the children push me very close to the edge of my ability -- physically and emotionally . . . . however, it pays well, and I'm praying I will be offered a part time or full time position there next fall.
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Leah
When you are fleeing temptation, don't leave a forwarding address. *Leah's Stories*
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RE: Leah's Stories - 6/6/2005 10:41:30 PM
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magdaleine
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Thanks for sharing, Linda! I'm looking forward to the rest of your stories!
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Maggie
Magdaleine's Alabaster Atrium
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RE: Leah's Stories - 6/7/2005 6:42:24 AM
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leah777
Posts: 3193
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From: Show-Me State
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Guess it's time for my first story, huh  . . . . some of you have probably heard this one before -- seems to me I told it once several months ago, but here goes . . . .
Mom always did laundry on Monday -- dunno why, that's just when she did it. We had an electric wringer washer and 2 rinse tubs on the back porch, and we all had our part to do, depending on our age/ability. Whether it was standing on a stool to rinse out the hankies and wash cloths -- a job for the very younest kids, or carrying the buckets of water -- the job for the oldest ones, we were all kept busy from the time we rose to meet the day until we dropped, somewhat exhausted, in our beds that night.
Though we didn't have indoor plumbing as such, we did have a pump inside the house -- you know, the old-fashioned kind with a long handle pump you pushed up & down to get water --- ours was red. Our water supply was a cistern whereby rain water was captured off the galvanized tin roof and dumped into a large well-type structure, after being filtered through a smaller structure filled with charcoal. So, we didn't have an overabundant supply of water in the dryest, hottest months of the summer. If the cistern ran dry, we had to haul water from the General Store -- 1½ miles away.
Anyway, the pump was inside the kitchen and we had to pump AND carry BUCKETS & BUCKETS of water to fill the washer and the 2 rinse tubs on the back porch, replinishing these as needed. I have no idea how Mom did all this, but I know she accomplished most of it single handed until some of the older kids got big enough to help.
But as we grew strong enough to pump and/or carry water, we were drafted to help. So we would pump the bucket full, lift it out of the sink, carry it about 10-12 steps to the back door, down the step onto the porch and dump it in the washer or tubs. The kitchen floor would be standing with water by the time we were finished.
On top of this, during the hot summer months, it was not unusual for Mom to spontaneously fill a plastic glass with water -- we used a LOT of plastic -- and throw it at an unsuspecting kid as they came in or out the door . . . of course, there ensued a water fight and everyone would take a much needed break to fill whatever receptacle we could get our hands on to throw on the whoever was the closest!
Sheesh!! How Mom would have the energy for this in the middle of such back-breaking work I have no idea, but she was nearly always the instigator, and ALWAYS the biggest duck in the puddle! Come to think of it, I think she usually started this at the END of the work . . . what fun we would have, tho! . . Oh! -- and -- the only real rule was we had to keep it in the kitchen or outside . . . .
But on the really cold days of winter there just wasn't a whole lot of ways to make this job pleasant . . . unless you lived with Mom  . . . . . . She was never one to waste anything --- not even spilled water, so, usually a hot summer day, but even sometimes a cold winter one, we'd get a special treat . . . . .
After the laundry was all hanging on the line or strewn in the living room around the wood stove (or large Warm Morning heater), and we were ready to start the dreaded work of cleaning up the mess, on the most undesirable, longest of days, Mom would reach under the sink for a big bottle of dish detergent, give us a wink & a smile -- and start squirting detergent all over the kitchen floor!! . . .
We then stripped off our shoes & socks, pushed the bed-sized table against the wall, pushed in the chairs and started skating --- all the way across our 25'+ long kitchen back & forth slipping & sliding and falling all over each other  --- I think the only thing that saved us was there was so little room and so many kids, so we never had far to fall  . . . .
But, the end result of this was when she decided we'd had enough skating, she would give us all mop rags and we'd start mopping up the mess . . . . . so, not only did she get to watch her kids have fun, she also got the kitchen floor sparkling clean -- all on what should have been the most gruesome day of the week!
Mom didn't skate with us, but she'd sit down out of the way and just cheer us on -- and laugh so hard she'd have tears rolling down her face. I think there was nothing in life Mom liked better than watching her kids have fun --- nothing I can think of gave her such joy.
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Leah
When you are fleeing temptation, don't leave a forwarding address. *Leah's Stories*
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RE: Leah's Stories - 6/7/2005 7:00:09 AM
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leah777
Posts: 3193
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Yeah, I really did, Pammy -- glad you enjoyed it
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Leah
When you are fleeing temptation, don't leave a forwarding address. *Leah's Stories*
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RE: Leah's Stories - 6/7/2005 7:49:53 AM
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leah777
Posts: 3193
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From: Show-Me State
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Thank you, Barb! -- so glad you enjoyed it! . . . and yes, it was fun
_____________________________
Leah
When you are fleeing temptation, don't leave a forwarding address. *Leah's Stories*
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RE: Leah's Stories - 6/7/2005 7:55:53 AM
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leah777
Posts: 3193
Joined: 4/12/2005
From: Show-Me State
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It was and is amazing to me how Mom could turn chores into games and we didn't even realize it. Daddy worked such long hard hours, and sometimes had to be gone for days at a time. We seldom had a car we could count on to start properly, so sometimes things we planned -- a trip to a nearby creek, a day at the park -- would get put on hold, but I don't even remember the disappointment of those days, though I know they must have happened.
I can honestly say that my most disappointing memory from the wayward car was when my older brothers and sisters were still at home --- must have been around 1957 or 58 . . they were to go to St. Louis Hop with the school -- a special field trip. The car wouldn't start and they missed the bus. I still remember sitting in the living room watching St. Louis Hop with them (which I usually complained about at that age -- I would have been 7 or 8 ) and watching their sad faces -- even crying for them! 
_____________________________
Leah
When you are fleeing temptation, don't leave a forwarding address. *Leah's Stories*
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RE: Leah's Stories - 6/7/2005 8:15:21 AM
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leah777
Posts: 3193
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From: Show-Me State
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From that same era there is a funny story I can tell that maybe explains Mom's sense of humor -- or how she was able to keep it, considering the headaches that would have to come with that many kids . . ..
There is a period of 4½ years between me and my next oldest sister, then I have another 1-2 years older than her, a brother 1-2 years older than that one, and another sister 1-2 years older than him. So these 4 kids were teenagers at the same time --- can you imagine????!!
The 3 older ones went out on dates together all the time -- double/triple dates they called them in those days. When they returned home, they would many times invite their dates into the house and they'd all have a snack or sit & chat.
We only had 2 bedrooms, so the living room was nearly always used as a bedroom also, with 1 or 2 kids on the sofas, maybe more on the floors. Our house had another ½ story -- attic rooms; it was generally too hot or too cold to use them all year for bedrooms, but we managed the biggest part of the year -- even in the cold when we got desperate enough for privacy 
Our house was laid out in a 4 square -- the kitchen and Mom & Daddy's bedroom being on the back side, and the living room and the other bedroom on the front side. The only inside door was the one between the two bedrooms and the one that opened from one corner of the living room into the stairwell. The double doorway between the front bedroom and the living room was hung with a heavy curtain for privacy and to keep the heat from the space heater in the living room.
This night, me and my younger 4 brothers and sisters were asleep in the front bedroom. We -- or at least I -- heard my brothers and sisters come in with their friends. I didn't get the full story till later, but this is what happened . . .
My brother J wanted to show his friends Daddy's shotgun -- Daddy had a gun hanging above every doorway of the living room -- not for protection really, but just to keep them out of the reach of the kids. I guess he kept them loaded . . anyway, this night, this gun was loaded, unless J decided to load it. Well, he had the gun pointed to the floor (PTL!) and it went off   . . . . effectively waking everyone in the house! Everything got dead silent in the living room, though, as the teenagers all waited in dread for Daddy to come storming out of his bedroom . . . instead, Mom opens the bedroom door, and said in something between a shout and a whisper --- "You kids stop poppin' those tater chip bags -- you're gonna wake your dad up!!!" . . . . . well, you can just imagine the relief --- it was like a collective sigh coming from the living room as everyone breathed again  . . . .
Then they started trying to figure out what to do next --- afterall, there was a sizable hole in the floor! Finally, it was decided -- the only way to stop up the hole -- and sorta hide it -- was to fill it with bubble gum . . . but, of course, no one had any gum! So off to town they went -- just a couple of them -- to find some gum. And sure 'nuf! -- they chewed it, and filled the hole.
Of course Mom & Daddy noticed the next morning and asked what in the world happened, but they had that covered too . . they just told her they had dropped a stick of wood and had knocked a hole in the tile on the floor    . . .
Well, my next to the oldest brother, B, had laid the tile on that floor, so Mom of course, asked him to replace that one. B was always a bit jealous that the younger generation of kids always got by with more than than he did, being next to the oldest, and couldn't wait to tell Mom, as he was digging the many layers of bubble gum out of the hole  that it weren't no stick o' wood went through that floor!
Well! She became belligerent and said she guessed she knew what went through that floor cuz she was here! --- right in there asleep! and the noise had woke her up and she'd yelled at them for poppin' potato chip bags cuz they were gonna wake Daddy up!!! . . . . 
Yep! she beleived every line of it! No matter how much B tried to reason with her --- how would a stick of wood knock a hole all the way through an oak floor board??? --- she stood by her kids and ordered him to just replace the tile and stop trying to get the kids in trouble! 
He replaced the tile alright . . you gotta understand, at this point, this floor had been done of leftover tiles from B's jobs, so it was a conglomeration of patterns --- all different kinds of patterns!! So, B replaced the tile with a white tile, which he cut a 2" square right in the middle of, which he plugged with a 2" piece of blue tile; then he cut out a circle -- about the size of a bullet hole -- in the middle of the square and plugged that with a red tile !!! . . . so there ya got it! --- A TARGET -- for all the family to see . . and remember  . . . . Mom just yelled at him a bit then shrugged it off  . . . . . but it stood as a reminder to those teenagers that there were SOME ppl who didn't believe their tall tales
I don't know if there came a time in between then that Mom actually questioned her undying belief in her kids, but I do know that it was years later, after my hubby & I were married and my brother J had died, that my sisters who were there that night finally confessed to Mom what had really happened. She just shook her head and said nothing. I kinda think she would have just as soon gone on living in oblivion  . . .
I had decided long before that, that the only way Mom could possibly have kept her sanity, let alone her sense of humor through 14 kids was to assume a sort of blindness to some things her kids did -- it was purely a defense mechanism kickin' in . . . she taught us the best she could, and her & Daddy set great examples for us, but I believe, unconsciously, she drew the line on some things, knowing there was only so much even she could handle. I guess that was wise of her, because she remained in pretty good health, even mentally, until after Daddy died.
_____________________________
Leah
When you are fleeing temptation, don't leave a forwarding address. *Leah's Stories*
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RE: Leah's Stories - 6/7/2005 9:07:13 AM
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cherish405
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From: Australia
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This is going to be great getting to know more about you and your life. Thanks for sharing with us.
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*** My name is Trish and I'm His daughter, desirous and glorious in His sight ***
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RE: Leah's Stories - 6/7/2005 9:33:40 AM
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leah777
Posts: 3193
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From: Show-Me State
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Yeah, Barb . . it was almost dead center of the living room, so you couldn't miss it!
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Leah
When you are fleeing temptation, don't leave a forwarding address. *Leah's Stories*
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RE: Leah's Stories - 6/7/2005 9:51:01 AM
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leah777
Posts: 3193
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Thanks, Emily! -- I have considered that
< Message edited by leah777 -- 6/7/2005 1:17:07 PM >
_____________________________
Leah
When you are fleeing temptation, don't leave a forwarding address. *Leah's Stories*
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RE: Leah's Stories - 6/7/2005 9:59:06 AM
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uncabeeil
Posts: 5701
Joined: 4/11/2005
From: Joisey. Got a problem wit dat?
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Gee Leah, I hate to say I toldja so, but......... 
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There are three things in my life which I really love: God, my family, and baseball. The only problem - once baseball season starts, I change the order around a bit. ~Al Gallagher
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RE: Leah's Stories - 6/7/2005 1:59:10 PM
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uncabeeil
Posts: 5701
Joined: 4/11/2005
From: Joisey. Got a problem wit dat?
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Leah, I'm pretty sure the default font size is 2, so you don't have to type that. Only if you want it bigger or smaller. I never put in a font size.
_____________________________
There are three things in my life which I really love: God, my family, and baseball. The only problem - once baseball season starts, I change the order around a bit. ~Al Gallagher
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RE: Leah's Stories - 6/7/2005 4:06:50 PM
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leah777
Posts: 3193
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From: Show-Me State
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Thanks, Bill! -- sure do 'piciate that!
_____________________________
Leah
When you are fleeing temptation, don't leave a forwarding address. *Leah's Stories*
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RE: Leah's Stories - 6/8/2005 3:22:44 AM
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Smiley777
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. . . . but, that's really nice to know, cuz I'm horrible at proofing my own work