24 Hours

Thomas and I just completed our first 24-hour shift at the Family Support and Treatment Center. We had a pretty good time although we're glad we are only doing one shift a month! We had children to watch from 6pm-9pm last night then from 9am-6pm today--no overnighters this shift! We had a couple volunteers this shift which is nice because they can play with the kids while we get the required chores done (vacuuming, cleaning bathrooms, laundry, dishes, meals, etc). We thought this job was going to be more of a nightmare than it really is. The last couple times that we did shifts (filling in from 6pm-9pm) we've had the same family whose kids are CRAZY x10. They always are sitting in time-out (almost the whole time they are there), always getting in fights, throwing things, screaming, anything you can imagine basically! But this weekend, we didn't have them at all and--heaven. The shift is so much easier when the children aren't monsters! We only had to put one child in time out today and only one time for only three minutes! And then we got paid for 12 hours while we slept/watched tv/got ready in the morning. We think we might only keep this job until fall comes and Thomas gets really busy with the accounting program (assuming he gets in) but I guess we'll see how it goes the next couple months. So I'm thinking I should be prepared for any type of kid God sends my way when we're ready to have children between all this nannying and family support center! And then again, I probably won't be at all prepared. I think my life revolves around children now but I already know it's nothing compared to having your own child. Except sometimes I think taking care of my own children will be easier in a way since I'll actually love them and get to reap the rewards of raising them right.