Pudding

Yummmmmmy! It's amazing how a simple box of pudding can be a fantastic treat that the whole family loves. Jell-O and Pudding are great little things to stuff in a barrel to take up all the extra little space from packed items that are irregularly shaped.
This last week has been a pretty tough one for us. Being sick is always difficult, but when you add being stir-crazy and sick with stir-crazy sick children... yeah, fun. Then there are the inevitable bumps we all run in to or step in, like my youngest yesterday who was standing on some grass on campus when she was attacked by ants. Hundreds of them were all over her shoes and socks. I ripped them off of her as quickly as I could, and she was only bit a couple of times (thank Heavens) but during that time my oldest daughter and the little girl I was walking home just kept walking! Then the youngest ran off after them and I was trying to bang the ants off the socks and shoes and follow the children along with three backpacks, waterbottles, and various other necessitites including an umbrella because of course it was raining during this whole episode. It's amazing that I was only bit once. Man those little buggers can sting! A student who recognized that I needed help stood with my girls while I caught up, but the little girl I was walking home just took off and ran all the way home! Then I carried my youngest the rest of the way home because I couldn't get the last couple of ants out of her shoes and socks.
In addition to that, she woke up after she'd only been in bed like an hour and begged and cried for a milkshake. So I gave in (it was late and I thought it would get her in bed). She couldn't fall asleep after that, and kept getting up and complaining about a tummy ache, which I of course figured was her way of trying to stay up since this has been a major issue lately. Right after I put her in her bed and chewed her out for getting out of bed, she got up for like the 10th time and promptly vomitted all over the place. I felt so bad. Poor kid. So then Shane sticks her in the shower (we don't have bathtubs) and I'm cleaning up the mess and when I go to check on her I realize that she has found the economy-size bottle of Aussie shampoo that is supposed to get us through our stay on the island and she is pumping it all over the shower floor. So, of course, despite the fact that I was still feeling sorry for 'yelling' at a sick child I can't help but tell her off again. (This isn't our first experience with her wasting my shampoo.)
Add to that the battle I'm waging to try and help other spouses with their island experience and the frustrations that develop from that and I'm just grateful tonight for pudding. Seriously, after our ummm.... whirlwind.... trip to the island and the subsequent trials I promised myself that I would find a way to make it easier for those who follow. It just seems like I'm banging my head against a brick wall lately. I really want to get a sponsorship program started, but how do you do that when you don't know who the new spouses are? Seriously, I thought the RSO website would be a decent way to find new spouses, but so far it's only helped locate 2. This is still progress, and at least I can help those 2, but I know there are so many more out there who could benefit from our knowledge and experience. Oi! I just don't get why grown-ups can't figure out how to get along with each other and how to help each other. I know it's not surprising, this is why there are wars in the world, but still, come on people! Why can't we all be a little less selfish and a little more concerned with helping our fellow men!