One other necessary thing we’ve found is to make sure to tell the kids where they are sleeping and where we are sleeping. If we get somewhere and they are asleep already, we automatically have them sleep in our room so they know where we are when they wake up. This may not seem important with a 7 and 4 yr old, but as we were reminded recently, it is very important!
We were staying at my parents’ house with my sister and her girls and my 2 grandmas came to visit. This meant some rearranging of rooms and my kids and my oldest niece wanted me to sleep in the camper with them. This worked great the first couple nights but I wanted to play cards with everyone and the kids wouldn’t go out to bed without me. We put the kids to bed inside and I told them we’d move out to the camper later. As it got a lot later I decided to just stay upstairs where they were asleep. I went to sleep on the bed in the room where they were in sleeping bags on the floor. Around 4am my mom woke me up lightly touching my arm, “Carolyn, I have E. She was outside looking for you.” Despite the early hour I woke up suddenly! Apparently my 4 year old woke up and it was dark and she remembered we said we’d be in the camper. Rather than look in the bed (or notice her brother who she walked right over to get out of the bedroom!) she headed out to the camper. When she couldn’t find myself, or her older cousin, she said she came in and looked in the office where J had been earlier. When she couldn’t find him there she started crying. That was when my mom heard her and got up and brought her to me after some grandma snuggles too. My little girl is so black and white-she is the only one who’d be brave enough to go outside in the dark and have the presence of mind to look around and come back in. I held her a long time comforting her, reminding her I’d never leave her without someone to take care of her and that I was right there. She finally fell asleep about 6. I lay awake a long time after rejoicing in her being ok and marveling at her courage and sense with which she thinks through things. This has definitely been a reminder though that our normal is anything but! God continues to remind me that He is in control and He has given our whole family a calling and He will take care of all of us. We love our kids dearly but see that even with them we have to hold them loosely for they are just ours for a time. Our trust and faith continues to increase and we are thankful for the way God continues to watch over our family in whatever “home” we are in!
***My parents live in the middle of nowhere so she wasn’t in danger going out to the camper-other than seeing a deer or skunk perhaps. Since then, she has slept in the camper and inside and been fine!