Roadblock to Service

If you have followed my blog long at all, you know we try to serve others and we try to involve the kids in service.  (See all posts under the service tab.) I try to take these nuggets along when I can.

But lately I have been feeling like my kids are a roadblock to the service I need to do and I am not sure if it is a real roadblock or a perceived one?  Am I just using them as an excuse or is serving with kids dang hard?

This issue is weighing heavily on my mind right now because I am facing much service that I WANT to do:

My mom has cancer.  She has 1 chemo treatment to go and then she starts radiation every day for a month.

My dad had a large precancerous thing-a-ma-jig biopsied from his colon this week and has to have surgery to remove it.  He will be in the hospital 3-7 days sometime between my mom’s last chemo and the start of her radiation.

My sister is 8 months pregnant and is in complete denial.  She doesn’t even know where the nursery is going to be, let alone has it set-up.

Another sister got a job to teach P.E. in the fall and needs help setting up, organizing, and decorating a whole classroom. (She doesn’t have a gym.  Is that weird or what?)

My brother, his wife and 5 kids are moving from Corvallis, Oregon to Spokane, Washington on a very low budget at the end of this month.   They don’t have the same family support out there that I do here.  Plus my mom and dad can’t go help. Having recently moved I am dying for them and the task that lay ahead.  I so want to fly out there and bust a move (no pun intended).

One of my best friends is building a house and wants to paint a few rooms before she moves in at the beginning of August.  And who better to help her paint than me?  I was a paint slut in my former life.  We have been friends for years and I want to help her make  her new home beautiful.

But as much as I want to help my family and friends, I have 4 kids!  That I still have to take care of everyday–all day.  I am still changing diapers, tying shoes, wiping mouths, etc.

Chad is gone so much and Elle is not old enough to leave as a babysitter for long periods of time.  Plus they can’t help with any of this service.  They can’t be in hospitals, or near sick people or babies.   I wouldn’t get anything done with decorating or packing or moving or painting if my kids were around.  They would hinder rather than help.

(Oh, and did I mention that Locke has to get his tonsils out smack dab in the middle of all this!  He will be out for 2-3 weeks according to my doctor.)

So, needless to say, I feel helpless.  Like I really want to serve but don’t know how to with my kids?

I like to think of myself as a problem solver, but this time I am stumped. I am not sure what to do.

Can anyone give me some suggestions or sound advice?  How do I serve my family and friends at this especially crazy time, but still do my part as a mother?