One thing about the Smotherman house is our seemingly always open doors. Aside from catching a millions flies, we have a handful of parents who actually drive up to our house and send kids in to see if they can stay(and they rarely ask for a couple of hours...they mean all night while mom and boyfriend enjoy this world). For so many, I feel such compassion (seriously...my mom would never ever have done that....I don't do that to other people either), but the kids who come to our door? Rarely do they come from homes that inspire great parental influence. Tonight one little boy called and told Sarah his mom wanted to drop him off. Scott and I were already at the ball field watching Lita and Bella play softball. Sarah told him to come on but that he would just have to watch games. He did, happily. He was hungry so Sarah bought him a coke and nachos and popcorn...lol:) A few nights ago, after my kids were in bed, a boy who lives down the street walked into the kitchen looking for me, he had his younger brother with him and they were wanting to play. Play at 9pm. Sad sad sad....that just makes me sad. In my crazy life, I cannot imagine ever being so busy, so self absorbed that Idid not care for my children!
Now, on the flip side, we also have kids that hang out here, the ones who have great families but seemingly still love this crazy house:) Tonight as we were headed out the door to the game Jonathan, our longtime friend of my guys, walked into the living room and asked me if I has scissors. I walked to the kitchen to get him some as he described "I was just driving down the road and my gear shift broke off ....so I just pulled into your driveway....I think I can fix it". He was made himself at home (as he has done for many many years) and I am GLAD! I love that he feels that way, he's a good kid( lol..college student). I smiled and snapped this shot of his efforts in my driveway as we left under his assurance he had it all under control. He wasn't here when we arrived home, so I guess he did:)
I love open doors. With every single "door" opened, every single child who walks through is another opportunity for my family to give back. Perhaps one of the neatest (and I mean this so very sincerely!!) things in life is to see your children open their lives to others. My kids love company, but they seem to do pretty well with the "hard to love" company too. Unconditional love in ACTION....a huge huge blessing! Our family IS so very blessed and so very thankful...thankful for our home and the ability to share it:)
This makes me...sigh, I guess? I am so glad you are available for all of these children who wander thru your home, I can only imagine how a kind word, a hot meal and your very presence adds to their daily lives. I don't think either you or I could imagine just dropping (dumping?) our kids off at someone's home and obviously assuming adding our children to someone else's life for a few hours (ha!) or overnight, weekend, week, would not be a burden. I can't even ask anyone to do respite for one of my very tough kids because I know how hard he is for me, and he is MY responsibility (now, rtc is a different, and unattainable issue - I have begged for that). Now, I know you don't consider them a burden (most times anyway, haha), but the food factor alone could become a little iffy around here. I swing between wanting to do for everyone and feeling a little resentful that everyone expects me to just manage with no help at all. Some people will just take and take and never even consider giving anything back or simply being thankful for the blessing you are in their (and their childrens) lives. You are truly a good person in every way that counts!!
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