A Typical Day in the Koppes House ....

I guess I shouldn't really use the words "typical" and "Sunday" in the same sentence.... at least not regarding our home. There's really nothing "typical" about a Sunday here. The sabbath day is my favourite day of the week. Not only do I have the opportunity to attend service at our church and fellowship with our church family (a weekly high point for me), I also have the pleasure of spending the entire day with my family.

If you haven't already guessed, relationships are very important to me. My faith, my "Christianity", is based on relationship - my relationship with Christ. My relationships are so precious to me. I am so blessed ~ Every Sunday I have the awesome privilege of worshipping Christ with my family. My dad, his wife and their son (my brother Douglas) come from out of town to attend service with us. My younger sister, her husband and their three children come to church and also serve in ministry at Praise. Growing up, we never were a church-going family so it really blesses me beyond words that we can now get together on Sundays and worship the Lord as a family.

After church service we all meet at our place for lunch. Nothing fancy - it really doesn't matter WHAT we eat, the point is that we're together enjoying being with each other. There always seems to be more than enough food to go around - a good thing too considering there are usually six adults and ten children to feed. The children love hanging out with their cousins so often. They talk about it through out the week. "I'm gonna show Douglas my new game" B1 says excitedly. "I want the girls to do my makeup" says B3. (He just enjoys their undivided attention)

I remember when I was their age spending time with my cousins. Playing with aunt Roni's Fisher Price Little People Play sets (she had ALL of them) and making whirl pools in the swimming pool with Kelly, Michael, and Jason. I used to love doing make up with my cousin Jojo and teasing Johnny. I have so many fun memories of spending time with my cousins when I was little and I am glad my children will have their own memories of times like that. As I grow older I realize what blessing it is to have such a close family. Friends and acquaintances will come and go but family will always be there - at least I know mine will :) I guess it all depends on how much time and energy you invest into a relationship that determines how strong and healthy it will be. The investment is so worth it :)

Sunday get togethers here are not what you might expect. We don't just come in from church and eat then lay around napping..... there's never a dull moment around here! After lunch the kids play outside (weather permitting) and the adults play indoors. We sometimes watch a good movie together (Tyler Perry productions are a favourite), play a board/card game (or Catch Phrase), break into teams and play a PS2 game (Buzz Trivia, Buzz Junior, etc) or our new favourite pastime - Sing Star!!!!! We've gotten pretty good at it to. The picture above show Cherie, Cathy, and myself after a challenging game of Sing Star. The men sometimes join in but usually just cheer us on from the sidelines..... or dance to our loud renditions... as seen below.
After we've sung ourselves hoarse we pass the mic to the children who have grown to appreciate "our" music from the 80's. Once the kids take over the game system it's hard to regain control of it - so if we're desperate, Al will run home and bring his PS2 over so we can play another game together without disturbing the kiddos.
When supper time rolls around we cook up another meal. One of my favourite times of the day is meal time - Hahaha, no, not because we're eating, but because we all gather together to pray before our meal and ask the Lord's blessing on our food and fellowship - what a blessed woman I am. After supper and "berzzert" (that's dessert according to B3) the kids sometimes settle down for a movie or a game or a bike ride outside.... this Sunday most of the children entertained us with their free style dancing moves in the back yard ~ Hmmmm moms and dads, wonder where they learned those moves?
Sometimes our day together doesn't end until well into the evening. And despite the fact that our kids all have school in the morning we can't seem to pull ourselves away from the fun any earlier.... we're working on that.
Our Sundays are anything but typical and I wouldn't change a thing. The memories we're making and the quality time we spend together are priceless.
PS. Dad, I still want to "verse" you on Sing Star - you owe me a song :)

Another PA DAy?

It amazes me how children who have such a difficult time dragging themselves out of bed on a regular school day can just leap out of bed with such energy so early in the morning on a PA Day. It seems to work the same way with my hubby. On a work day he is not so quick to crawl out from under the blankets when that dreaded alarm clock starts making noise - but boy oh boy plan a hunting trip and he's up every hour on the hour all through the night just to make sure the alarm clock is working!
My day started off a little rough because G3 (girl 3) woke up off and on for feeding and diaper changes between 4:30 am and 7:00 am. She usually sleeps very well through the night so this disturbance in my sleep was unexpected and certainly unwelcomed! I had figured that since it was a PA day the children would sleep in and so would I. I figured wrong. Once I finally got G3 back to sleep and my hubby quietly left for the office, I crawled back into my bed - oh the crisp sheets were so inviting - I snuggled into the pillows and closed my eyes...... and then I heard it. A still small voice. No, it wasn't God, it was B2 (boy 2) whispering to me and letting me know that he was headed to the bathroom because he had to go pee. I waved him off and rolled over again. Peeing is contagious in our house and when one has to go it seems the whole herd has to suddenly go. B1 & B3 appear in my bedroom doorway to let me know that they too have to go pee. I wave them on and remind them to be quiet because baby G3 has just fallen back to sleep. After a few minutes I hear the toilet flush and the water running in the bathroom sink. I also hear giggling and splashing and then a brief moment later, bickering. As the noise begins to escalate I drag myself out from under my comfy blankets to hunt them down. I find all three of them fighting for positions at the sink. After giving orders to "clean up the mess!" I send them off to their room to play quietly until everyone else is up. I should have known better. What that really means to them is "do whatever you want - I'm too tired to do anything about it." I lay back down in my bed and close my eyes but they don't stay closed for long. From the boy's room I hear thumping and giggling. It sounds like all three of them are wrestling on the bed right next to me - with only the wall separating us. I worry that they are wrestling on the top bunk of the bed so I force myself out of bed again to go investigate. I find that B1 & B2 are indeed wrestling in the bed, but on the bottom bunk in their newly constructed tent of blankets. I ask them to please stop thumping against the wall as it sounds like they will come through it and end up in bed with me. They giggle and ask "What's for breakfast?" So much for sleeping in!
A short time later we're all at the table enjoying breakfast. A driver comes to the door to pick up a child for an access visit. The child he is here to pick up hasn't even arrived yet. We had a baby B4 coming today for an overnight stay but he wasn't due to arrive until 11:30 am. The driver left in a hurry to find the child in question. About fifteen minutes later I received a call saying that the access visit has been cancelled and baby B4 would be arriving earlier than anticipated. It's not even 9 am and things are getting hectic already.
The children did their chores after breakfast while I fed B4 and G3. My niece slept over last night. She and G1 & G2 set up all their make up on the back porch and gave each other beauty makeovers. B3 happened to wander by and got made over as well. He pranced into the kitchen to show me how pretty he looked. Pink just isn't his colour.
Our day was chaotic and a little stressful with two scheduled access visits and two in home lawyer appointments. My wonderful hubby volunteered to pick up a few groceries on the way home so I emailed him my list :) By 5 pm all children were home from visits and both lawyers had come and gone. The groceries were put away and supper was started. I thank God for my sister and her husband who make themselves available to help us out when we need some time away. (Thank you Cherie and Al for being a blessing to us.) My hubby and I schedule regular "date nights" where we go out for dinner together or with another couple. And tonight was one of those nights! As we drove out of town and onto the 401 I felt the stress lifting. The further away from Chatham we drove the lighter I felt. We went out to the Mongolian Grill in Tecumseh this evening with Mr. & Mrs. V . This is one of our favourite places to dine. Good food and a relaxing atmosphere. It's nice to get out with friends you can let your hair down with and be real. Before heading home we bought whoopie cushions at the dollar store (for the children of course).
Cherie and Al went home and left their three children at our place for the night - what's a few more when you already have 7 kids. B4 & G3 were already sleeping when we got in. B1, B2, & B3 went to bed right away. G1 & G2, niece 1 & niece 2 and my nephew layed down to watch a movie before falling asleep themselves. I know that probably sounds like a lot but it's actually quite structured. Sort of like organized Chaos :) and we love it.

Welcome to My Fish Bowl

Dive on in - the water's cool and refreshing, very inviting..... let's splash around and make some waves! Welcome to my fishbowl. Living in a small town, being a pastor's wife and a foster parent I tend to feel highly visible and very exposed, like I'm living in a fishbowl for all the world to see. My husband asked me why I wanted to write a blog "we live in a fish bowl as it is, everyone knows all our business already" he said. I agreed with him but also added that while many people think they know what's going on in our lives, they only really have half the story. I am so tired of hearing juicy rumours about my family that aren't even true. Come on now, if you want to talk about someones business at the very least be accurate! I have tried very hard over the past few years to keep my family and home life private but it seems to be a losing battle. The personal bits I do share often get misunderstood or retold with a variety of inaccuracies. Situations like that are distressing to me as I value honesty and authenticity. I consider myself to be "real" or down to earth. There's nothing fancy or made up about me, and that's what I like in others. Perhaps that's what I find so appealing about blogging. A chance to be myself and say what's on my heart without worrying about someone else's opinion or take on my life - isn't that what the delete button is for?
So what's my purpose in writing this blog???? Maybe it will be theraputic. It might unleash some hidden talent I have for writing - or not. It may just end up being a good read or the source of your daily dose of laughter...... I guess there really isn't one specific "reason" for my writing a daily blog except that I can pen down all the rambling thoughts and feelings I rush through in my busy day and feel like I am sharing a part of myself with someone else. There is never a dull moment around here so plug your nose, hold your breath and keep your eyes opened under the water .... you won't want to miss a thing ~ let's go swimming....