Sheet Family

We had a family reunion at our campground this week. They use to come to Park Creek Campground every summer back in the 80s but haven’t been back for quite a while. In memory of a deceased child’s upcoming birthday, they decided to gather the family together once again in Park Creek.

Bernita and Kyle Sheet are parents of ten children, all from various parts of Texas, except one who lives in Alaska and was unable to attend. They range in age from 32 to 15 years old. The family took over four campsites and with spouses and friends there was 17 adults and 5 grandkids.  What a gang!

They pitched a huge tarp in one of the campsites designated as the cook’s shack.  And boy could they cook!!!

     

One night they invited Jim and I for dinner.  Bernita knew how to cook for a crowd making up 8 pounds of hamburger into patties.  They cooked them four at a time in three separate grilling baskets, so they were grilling a dozen burgers at a time over a wood fire!

Along with the burgers they served homemade, deep fried potato chips.  Oh, they were so good!

             

The real kicker was dessert!  They mixed up a huge batch of biscuits using a Bisquick-type dough mix.  Then they rolled out the dough on part of the tablecloth and cut them into biscuits. But then they used their finger to punch a hole in the middle and formed circles of dough.  The photo doesn’t show them real well, but you get the idea.  Oh, my, then they deep fried the circles and  coated them in powdered sugar.  They were the best donuts I’ve ever had.  I ate four of them!

All during this time some of the guys were tossing rings while the kids batted balls around.

                     

The littlest members were in a playpen made up of coolers…very clever idea.

      

The Sheets stayed with us for about five days enjoying fishing, hiking and a failed attempt at rafting.  Waters were rough and a unseen rock punctured the raft.  Here they come back to the campground laughing their heads off…they still had fun.

This family are really amazing! They are all very devote Christians and all extremely polite.  Kyle is a family practice doctor.  And the incredible part of that is that Kyle decided to become a medical doctor at the age of 42 and after having eight children!!!  I asked Bernita if she always knew Kyle wanted to be a doctor and she said, “No, not until the medical journals started arriving in the mail”.  Incredible!!!

One of the daughters is also a doctor and her husband is currently a fighter pilot, while one of their son-in-laws was a fighter pilot and just finished his first year in medical school. Another daughter is a senior in college and will join Bernita and Kyle later this month in going to South Africa to provide medical care to tribes for a month.

I asked Bernita what was her child rearing philosophy.  Primary was love of God and making their faith a part of their everyday life.  A close second was discipline and that discipline started at about the age of 10 months old and was very consistent throughout their lives.  Bernita said the older kids were told they had to set an example to the younger kids and that kept them in line.  The younger kids wanted to emulate the older kids so they learned to be polite and behave to copy the older children.

Bernita said nothing keeps a teenager on the straight and narrow then telling them they had to take their three year old sibling along for the night out with their friends!  What a hoot!  The three year old tells all.

The grandkids were introduced to me and each one took their cap off (“daddy said you take your hat off when you meet a lady”), then they extend their hands to shake hands with a good strong grip and say “nice to meet you Miss Bobbie”.  And these twins were 4 years old!!!  I was very impressed. Seems like the politeness and manners are being passed down nicely.

I corralled the gang together to take a group picture.

Before they left Tuesday we had to take a photo together.

They had a great time time and we sure enjoyed having them with us for most of a week.  Bernita said they have already decided to come back next summer because they had so much fun.  They certainly will be welcomed. 

Remember, you are loved.