A little perspective

This has been a week of changed plans! Yesterday morning, Pete called to tell me he needed me to do some emergency babysitting for a soldier who just arrived here on Tuesday. This poor guy did an entire move with his three young kids, while his wife is in basic training. As Kelsey helped me out with the 5, 2, and 8-month-old little ones, she got a good look at just why God intended for kids to have both a mother AND a father and why mamas are so important. I feel for this daddy--he's CLUELESS. Totally lost, and you can see the overwhelmed look in his face as he attempts to get himself signed in here at Redstone, get a house set up, get the oldest into school, look for daycare for the younger two, PLUS take care of all three of them when he's not working.

He was shocked that adding three more little ones to the mix didn't cause total chaos in our household. Poor guy!

I guess one of the most head-scratching realizations, however, came when he told us how much daycare will cost them--$1300 a month. Since I know military pay charts pretty well, I know that the amount they are going to be paying for daycare will be his wife's ENTIRE paycheck. The whole thing.

She is working, essentially, to put her kids in daycare. And it's not just any job, she is now a soldier in the most oft-deployed military in the world. I understand the desire to serve one's country but at what price? I just cannot fathom being away from an 8-month-old baby for SIX MONTHS. I can't imagine it. Kelsey and I have been eating this little baby girl up, and the boys--they are precious too, and of course they're all well cared-for by their dad, but goodness, they just NEED their mom!

It breaks my heart. I wish we could find a way to take care of them full-time. Hmm....it's just two more, right?