not your average twenty-something..

I (22 years old) woke up this morning at 6:30 to a whimpering 10 week old wanting to be fed.
Amy (21 years old) rolled out of bed and stumbled to the living room to pick him up out of his fancy swing that moves around to make him feel like he's in a car. (I mean, really?!) And of course I know this because I woke up to. But, thankfully, I didn't have to actually get out of bed. And Amy's sweet soul shuts the door as soon as she leaves so I don't have to hear him and be more awake than I already am. :insert shameful face here: Rebecca, the night owl, does the midnight feeding! {Amy and I say
h a l l e l u j a h to that!}
Anyways, Amy comes back into the room maybe 15 minutes later and crawls into bed and nestles herself in for as long as she can possibly get. The next time we wake up is 9:30! NINE THIRTY, people! Yepp, he let us sleep that long.

So, we decide it's time to get up and start getting ready for church. Because now, we must think about getting three of us somewhere, instead of two. (Gah, we sound married. It's creepy.) Two adults who would normally be able to individually get themselves ready and out of the door now have to remind each other to get what we need plus the needs of an infant. Who even are we?!
Oh and Rebecca had left for church 45 minutes early to take care of coffee duty.

As Amy is trying to do her hair, the baby starts crying.
Before I can blink my eyes Amy has the hair dryer turned on. I look at her with such a confused face and think to myself, "your hair isn't wet, my hair isn't... ohhhh, the baby LOVES the hair dryer."
We both just started laughing as Amy says to me, "we both don't want to hear him crying anymore, so the hair dryer will do." Don't get me wrong, he's a great baby, but.. he's still a baby.

So, we go to church and do the normal. Well, my family's normal anyway.
And then we load the troops and head to my aunt and uncle's house where a WEDDING took place just hours before. (Nope, not normal.) We scurry around like ants to get the house clean as quickly as we can. Our families like to call it the "five minute clean up". But we all know it takes more than five minutes.. our moms just like to call it that to attempt and make us feel like it'll be shorter. We usually just groan and scurry off saying, "moooooom, just don't call it that!!" Moving on.. and picture, in the middle of everyone cleaning, there are babies around, of course. Two of them, one 10 weeks, one 6 months. Everyone switches off attempting to make the babies content enough for us to get the job done. Don't fret, we were all successful. House = clean!

Amy and I have to leave right before cleaning is done to go drop off the 10 week old and pick up our 8 and 3 year old niece and nephew. (THE KIDS NEVER END!)

We get to my sister's house and drop one off as Amy is calling the second mom to get the other two kids picked up. I try to figure out what's going on on the other end of the phone, but I get nothing except for the look on Amy's face. Our sister had not left to meet up with us and we were so over being in the car. We look at each other and have the same thought.. we're driving to her! We precede down 280 and meet up to collect the other kids. (More success!!)

We then head back home to settle in (they're spending the night). Amy has one, I have the other. Somehow I got the 3 year old though... hmmm.
I have a child with me, but of course my life hasn't stopped because of that. So, I pack a bag with my computer, headphones, a movie and a snack and we're off! (Ohhh, I've learned. The Lee girls are armed and ready for war aka motherhood.)

We go to the church and end up getting there early so we lay on the couch and watch our movie until the team arrives. Jonathan, our pastor, walks up on us. He just laughed. What is our life?! I. Don't. Know. But it's a good one.

We are wrapping up our meeting, and the three year old has done great, under the circumstances. And then we get to prayer time and he starts lashing out. I mean, throwing pillows, grunting, kicking, lashing out. The boy that so easily grabs my heart is pushing every button I HAVE. What am I to do? I'm only 22. Not even married yet. Come on, people! But I have done this whole kid thing since I was a kid. But tantrums, I just haven't gotten there yet. How do you balance loving the kid with everything in you AND getting onto them? All the while, you do love them and YOU ARE UPSET WITH THEM! Oh me, oh my, I don't know what to do except threaten them with a facetime call from... MOM! And you better believe it happened. Some of these things are outta my hands. But I've come to learn, that's okay. It really is. So, we get the tantrum under control and we head to do the whole baths and dinner deal. Dinner goes over well. I mean we had breakfast for dinner (including cinnamon rolls), how could that go wrong?! Even bath time went well. Then we got to bedtime. Ohhhh, I don't like bedtime. Well, I love it for myself, but trying to get the kids to bed, not so much.

I get him in the room, with a movie and milk and beg Amy to let me leave. She loves me, so I got to. Octane is my home away from home and to get to sit here, which I'm doing now, and do whatever makes me so happy. I needed to rejuvenate after this weekend. My whole family does, for that matter.

Going back in the day a little -- As we were driving home from picking the kids up, Amy asks, "I wonder if everyone else's life is like this." I said, "Amy, it's NOT. It just isn't."

But I'm okay with that. Our life is crazy, it is hectic, it is drama, it is hard, it is sad, it is happy, it is fulfilling, it is challenging, it is.. the gospel. At least I hope. Because all this that we do, it's to glorify God. It's to reflect Him and His goodness. That's the point. That's the purpose. HE is why we do what we do. Yes, it can be too much. Yes, it can be overwhelming. Yes, I ask myself just about everyday, "WHAAAAAAT ARE WE DOING?! Is this too much?!" But then I remember, Jesus believed He could feed the 5,000 and He did. Granted, we don't have the same supernatural power as Jesus, but through Him we can do all things. (By the way, I'm preaching to the choir right now.. aka, myself.)

And some days I'm just like, "hey, I actually don't really want have a baby at my hip." But, I do it because I {l o v e} my family. And I so badly want to reflect Jesus and He wouldn't think twice about doing any of the things I'm asked to do daily. The Lee family is just creating the new normal. Watch out world, we're raising the bars. #sorry

I've asked the Lord to challenge me and He's doing just that.
I'm waking up to 10 week olds and falling asleep to 3 year olds.
I wouldn't be who I am today if it weren't for my large, diverse family.
And I wouldn't have it any other way.

I am Kathryn and I am not your average twenty-something.