It takes a village...

We are all familiar with the saying "It takes a village..."  I have most often heard it used in reference to raising a child.  These days, in this country, however, it is no longer the case.  Parents raise their children and while they may have the help of a babysitter or nanny there usually aren't others involved in a primary care giving role.  Grandparents, relatives, friends and church members may come to visit but are rarely involved as true "caregivers."

The trio and I have been in Goshen now for 1 week.  While I could write an entire blog entry on the experience of the plane trip out, I will leave that up to your imaginations for now - what you would imagine traveling with 3 newborns to be like is probably pretty close to how it went.

I thought it would be fun to share a list of stats from this week - some fun, some not so fun, but most of them quite impressive.

Visitors = 40
Volunteer caregivers (NOT including mommy, nana, poppy, auntie Cara and uncle Andrew) =  22
Total caregiver hours = 83
Meals provided = 9
Loads of baby laundry picked up, washed and dropped off = 5
Number of times nana's carpet has been hit with various body fluids = 5
Caregivers who have received a projectile vomit bath = 2
Volunteer gardeners (who have kept nana's expansive flower beds in check while she has focused on the trio) = 3
Homemade loaves of bread received = 10
Borrowed bouncy seats = 6
Naps for mommy and nana = many!
Night shifts covered solo by poppy = 2

As you can see it has been a busy week.  We are grateful for all of the "villagers" in our lives, both in Boston and here in Goshen.  While we miss Bobby (daddy) terribly, he maintains that this is the best place for us to be for now.  Please keep us in your prayers as we make decisions as to what the next step will be in this great adventure!  A few closing photos...

 Annie

 

Elias

 

Elias

 

Michael

 

 The trio - 3 months