Guatemala or Bust!

As I prepare to leave for Guatemala today, I thought I would post the video capturing the work that got me entered into the mission trip giveaway that I won.  Click HERE to watch it!
SO EXCITED!!!!!!!

A Day In The Life…..

Of Mattie Patterson.

People ask me all the time what its like to be a Patterson big kid.  What does my schedule look like?  How do I get school done?  Do I have chores?  Here is a general idea of what my weekdays look like:

Most weekdays, my alarm goes off at 8am.  Meribeth and Ella are just now getting to the schoolroom for their shift in school.  I turn it off and roll over for a few minutes, and then open my Bible for some time in the Word.

At 9am, four extra kids (we provide homeschooling respite for) get here and head to the schoolroom.  I get Selah up and eat breakfast with her until 9:30.  Then one of our helpers (and my good friend), Emily, comes to help us with Selah.  Then I usually take a shower and do my chores.  My chores are things like cleaning the toilets, sweeping the floors, and vacuuming.  I do chores 2-3 times a week, and when I’m not doing chores in the mornings, I spend  time hanging out, visiting, reading, etc.  Sometimes I hang out with Emily and Selah.  Sometimes I assist Mom at a doctor’s appointment for one of the littles. 

At 11:30AM I start making lunch.  I turn on some worship music and sing along as I cook.  At Noon everyone sits down at the table for some good food and lots of laughs:).  The four extra kids join us, and our table is full of conversation.  As soon as everyone finishes, we all clear the table. After the dishes are done, we all play a game of basketball before school starts back up at 1PM.  The girls stay in to do the dishes and then we join the boys outside. 

At 1PM, everyone goes their separate ways.  I take Moses (one of the extra kids) to tutor him until 1:30PM, Meribeth takes Selah for her nap, Remember (one of the extra kids) takes Kiefer and Ella to do a little school work with them, and the rest go to the school room.  After I tutor Moses, we walk back to the schoolroom together.  Then for the next three and a half hours I bury my face in my Physics book and work some Algebra 2 problems.

At 5:00PM, the extra kids leave, and I walk back to the house from school.  Every day, Selah spots me from the basketball court and screams, “Maaaatttttiiiiieeee!!!!!” all the way to me and gives me a big bear hug.  I go inside to help make dinner with the other girls and Mom, and the boys stay outside to watch the littles.  Usually Conner and Cooper are doing some kind of therapy (PT, OT, ST) when I get there, then after Conner’s bath at about 5:45PM the girls have, “Conner time”:).  We all pass him around and love on our squeaky clean little monkey:).  He cracks up as we all ooh and ahh over him. 

At 6PM, we call everyone in for dinner.  Our table is full.  Conversations swirl all around.  Selah, Conner, and Cooper keep everyone alert watching for flying spoons and food!  We do a devo and at about 6:30, we close with a final prayer and we are all dismissed.  We put our plates, napkins, and silverware in the corresponding bins, and Kiefer helps to clear the table  Ella unloads the dishwasher from the breakfast/lunch load.  Dad usually takes Selah, Conner goes up to bed (his school days exhaust him), and Cooper goes to the bath.  The boys go outside and the girls clean up.  At 7PM, Meribeth and I usually go running (:)).  When we get back, we help out wherever we’re needed, or if there’s a fun activity happening we join in.  We take turns putting Selah to sleep around 8PMish.

By 8:30PM, the house is quiet(er).  All of the littles are asleep, or at least in bed.  The big boys are usually team roping, and the big girls sit around and talk.  At about 9:30PM, all the big kids and Mom and Dad round up our popcorn and watch a show or something.  We’ve made it through The Walton's, Little House On The Prairie, Dr. Quinn.  We don’t have network TV or cable, so we watch movies most of the time, but we also have the ability to watch other things online if it’s appropriate.  We LOVE Duck Dynasty!!  Uncle Si is my favorite:).  It is our time as the big kids to relax and spend some time all together.  At about 10:30PM, I fall into bed, but I’m always reading some book that just can’t wait to be finished until another night, so around 11PM I look to my left to see Meribeth asleep, look to my right to see KJ winding down, and then take off my glasses and turn out my lamp.

 

This is just a rough draft of what my weekdays look like.  Ask anyone—everyday is an adventure at the Patterson home!  I love spending time with my family and am so thankful for the helpers that so lovingly serve our family.  I wouldn’t change a thing.  Thank You, Jesus!