Oh, The Stories I Could Tell.....

   Being on the adult side of things changes my perspective a little. Back then being the kid that rides in the car for hours and hours on end, you don't see all that is put into being able to get in that car to ride hours and hours on end. I didn't see all the laundry my mom had to do for all six (yes, I said six) of us kids. Six doesn't seem that many when compared to big families like the Duggars and the Bates, but I still think that trying to pack for six kids for a several week long trip could probably be a little stressful. I mean, I can't even remember everything for the three of us. I can't imagine trying to pack for five more!!!

  But somehow, we always ended up having everything we needed. Well, almost always... There was the time that one of my brothers threw up in the car so many times that my mom ran out of clothes for him. He threw up on his church clothes, and then his back up church clothes (always gotta have backups), and then his play clothes, and then his pajamas. So, he road the rest of the way home in his diaper and a blanket, but he survived.

  I don't know how you can be completely prepared when you have at least two kids that get carsick all the time. One of my younger brothers and I couldn't do much but sit in the car and face forward; otherwise, that White Castle burger your dad told you you had to eat if you wanted that mozzarella stick was going to come back up all over you. I remember our 12 passenger van pulled over on the side of the interstate as mom was using an entire roll of paper towels to clean off my little brother, and I was pushing past her to get out of the van before we needed another roll for me. Good times, good times. Then there was the time that we pulled into a hotel, mom and dad went in to check in while we sat in the van and waited. I didn't feel so good and I sat ever so patiently by the door waiting for them to come back, and as soon as they opened that door I was out of the van and tossing that White Castle burger all over the place...right next to the very nice little black sports car that dad had parked next to.  Then my big brother who had been watching me the whole time decided he didn't like that burger after all, and he joined me. Needless to say, once we were all inside the hotel room, my dad went out and moved the van far away from that little black sports car. Sorry, Mr. little black sports car, you parked your car in the wrong place at the wrong time.

   Not all the stories are bad though. There was the time we stayed with the people who had a fire pole in their house. What more could six kids ask for than to run up three flights of stairs and slide down the pole for hours on end? Or the fact that we collected "grandparents" on our travels. I think we ended up with about ten sets...okay, maybe not ten, but there were quite a few. Or the fact that , especially for the younger boys, we got a new best friend at every church we went to.

    All in all, I'm looking forward to creating our own set of deputation stories.  The good and the bad, although since neither I nor my husband like White Castle, we'll get to leave that little burger out of our stories. Thankfully, we won't be doing our deputation round with six kids. Only one for now, but  only the Lord knows what that number will be when we come back for furlough and round two!!! We shall see!!