#peterlevine

That same afternoon she went by her parents house. Deborah was greated very enthousiastic by her siblings as she had expected them to do. Peter wouldn't leave her side one second. Deborah enjoyed hugging him. She enjoyed spending time with all of her siblings. It was nice to see them all again. Even though she enjoyed her own quiet house, she loved her siblings very much and loved spending time with them. She loved listening to their stories. She even got to hold Shiloh for a while. Shiloh was almost two months old and would soon start to smile. For now she looked very seriously around her.

Deborah also talked with Anna during her visit. Anna was very relieved with her visit. Deborah asked how it all went without her help. She knew how much of the care for their siblings was now on her sholders. Elisabeth was still buzy with learning for the test Deborah did a year ago. Hadassa was learning how to take care of the little ones but still had to learn a lot. Most of it was now for Anna who was the only older sister left at home. Deborah felt sorry for her. She was the oldest and maybe she had expected to be the one to marry first. Hopefully she would find a husband soon too. Deborah promissed to swing by again soon. Anna was thankful.

It was the day after the wedding of Bernice and Christina. Together with both Anna and Elisabeth they had a meeting a couple days before to talk about who would take over which child of the buddyteams of Bernice and Christina. Anna would take over two children, Oscar and Maria. Elisabeth would take Jacob under his wings and baby Ruth. Since their mother would deliver her eighteen baby in just a couple of months somebody had to take her too. Deborah got Neveah as part of her team. Neveah looked a lot like Kaitlyn in behaviour and Deborah wasn't thrilled to have her on her team also but she had no other choice. Having both Oscar and Peter would be too much since they were both toddlers, and taking Ruth was also not option since Ruth was even younger. So she had to take Neveah.

It was tough to get through that first day. She did think about it before hand and immediatly started trying to teach both girls how to help her so they would be more a helpful hand then a burden. The girls weren't pleased with the change of routine but had to adjust. It wasn't just Deborah who started to treat her buddyteam like that. Anna and Elisabeth also started to teach their team to be more of a help to them. Especially Anna who had Hadassa on her team. She was now twelve years old and would turn thirteen in a couple of months. She was ready to get the same status as the older girls.

The little ones had a tough time dealing with Bernice and Christina being away now that they were married. They kept asking over and over again when they would get home. Deborah started to question how many times Peter and Kaitlyn would have asked about her when she left to spend the year with her grandparents. She tried to answer their questions over and over again in a very patient way but it wasn't easy.

While Deborah had Peter under her wings, during the day Bernice looked after him. Anna, Bernice and Christina were all three already done with school. Anna helped with teaching while Bernice and Christina watched the little ones who weren't in school yet. Deborah had yet to graduate before she could join her older sisters in their task. She was done with all the teaching her mother had done over the years. Now she was learning for the tests. If she passed the tests she graduated from school. Deborah was looking forward for that.

At the table Deborahs mother and Anna helped the children still in school with their lessons. It was not the ideal situation were Deborah could learn for the tests. So she was aloud to sit in her parents room at the crib of baby Ruth to read and learn.

Deborah enjoyed being in such a quiet place. She didn't mind her baby sister was there some of the time too. First she read about history. That was the hardest according to her. She read everything but it didn't seem to stay in her head. Making a summary wasn't her biggest talent either so she tried putting down facts on little pieces of paper so she could examine herself. Today that didn't help either. She was too buzy in her head. With only one thing, the test she did early this morning. She stole it from her mothers bathroom. That's what she felt most guilty about. Yesterday, while she had to do something for her mother in her parents bathroom she had seen the test. In just a few seconds she took it with her. Deborah sighted. Maybe her mother wouldn't notice one test missing from her cabinet. This morning she did the test while getting dressed. She still could barely believe it. Her parents would be very mad if they knew about it. She knew that now but had known that for about two weeks. Sadly, she couldn't go back in time and undo what she had done. It happend and now she had to deal with the consequences of her behavoir. She got nausious if she thought about telling her parents. How they exactly would react was a question but that her father would be mad was an certainty. Maybe her mother would be disappointed. They both had the right to be. She had done something very bad and deserved punishment. If only Deborah would know what would happen exactly if she would tell her parents. Deborah sighted again. She had to learn and not daydream about something she had no control over. If one thing was certain it were her tests. She had to pass them. Therefor she had to start learning now.

Before they started breakfast with prayer, Deborah started feeding Peter. He was too young to understand and wait before prayer. The others did have to wait. Slowly the tables filled up with children. Her parents also had yet to come and sit at the table. Her father was getting ready to go to work after breakfast and her mother was buzy with Deborah's youngest sibling, Ruth. It wasn't a big deal they weren't there yet. Deborah and her sisters were used to handle things on their own. Her parents were blessed with five girls after eachother in the beginning of their marriage. Many people thought her parents were trying for a boy but Deborah knew better. Each child was a gift from the Lord. Therefor her parents would never try to prevent another baby to join their family. That's how Deborah ended up with sixteen siblings.

When her parents came everbody sat down at the table and they all together prayed before starting to eat. Deborah listened to all the conversations during breakfast while keeping an eye on both Peter and Kaitlyn. But she wasn't the only one keeping an eye on Kaitlyn. Anna, the oldest, paid attention to Kaitlyn also because she was at the big table. Anna's buddygroup children were both already big enough to sit at the big table. She had it easier right now. Like Deborah had it easier before Ruth came and Peter was still under their mothers care.

After breakfast they all helped cleaning up the dishes and the table before they could start the schoolday. Everybody who could walk brough their own dish to the sink were Bernice put everything down in the dishwasher. Anna cleaned the table in the mean time. Deborah, together with Christian and Elisabeth got the little ones out of their high chair and put them in the livingroom where they could play.

In the girls room, Deborah had to wake Kaitlyn. Kaitlyn had to go wash herself and put on her clothes before she could sit at the table for breakfast. Kaitlyn clearly didn't liked being waked from her sleep. A big mouth followed and Deborah had to step up to make her actually get out of bed.

When she finaly got out of bed Deborah was relieved. Now she could go to the livingroom and put Peter in the high chair for breakfast.

With so many siblings they couldn't all fit at one table. There were two big tables shoved to eachother. But that still wasn't big enough for their family. So there was another little table behing the big table with two highchairs and two normal chairs. Deborah seated Peter in one of those highchairs. Kaitlyn could easy sit alone at the big table and eat her breakfast. Deborah didn't have to monitor that also. She could focus on Peter.

A disadvantange of the two tables was that people entering their home through the frontdoor immediatly bumped into their table. Most of the people they knew, and who knew their family's size, came through the back door. That came into the utillity room and then in the kitchen. No one bumped into tables and chairs going through the back door.

Deborah got rid of the test in the bin. She shoved it between the rabisch that was already in the bin. Lucky her sister Anna, already up and buzy in the kitchen cooking didn't notice what she was doing. After that, she washed her hands. Going to trash wasn't really hygienic. Then it was time to get her little brother, Peter, out of his bed.

Peter was part of her buddygroup. She and her other four older sister all had a couple of children that were their responsibility. Deborah had two children under her wings, Kaitlyn and Peter. Peter wasn't very old yet. Only about fifteen months. But her mother just had another baby, Ruth, and it was her turn to get another little one under her wings. So since a while she took care of little Peter.

She changed his diaper, washed him and put on some clean clothes. He was such an easy going baby. Deborah didn't mind taking care of him. She could easily handle another one just like him. Except she didn't have another one just like him. She had Kaitlyn.

With Peter in her arms she went back to the girls room to wake up Kaitlyn. Her sister had a very strong mind and Deborah often had to fight with Kaitlyn to get her to listen to Deborah.

Another girl, Maria Glory

The first toddler, Neveah Bliss

Another one, Oscar Courage

The two youngest, Peter Ace and Ruth Destiny