Julie's Got Nothin' On Me

If Julie Powell (of “Julie and Julia” fame) had 65 messages on her answering machine in one day, left by salivating agents and publishers, why don’t I? Let’s leave out for a moment that I don’t have an answering machine. That’s beside the point.


If you haven’t seen the movie or read the book, the story is based on the true story of Julie Powell, a young married woman who decided that she would cook through Julia Child’s entire cookbook in one year and blog about her experiences in the process. Julie recreated 524 French recipes in 365 days. It’s a cute story and the movie is relatively clean. (There are a few bad words and an almost-love-scene.)

I will admit that what Julie did was pretty impressive, but I may just have one up on her. You may be asking, “What? Did you cook 525 French recipes in 365 days?” No, I did not. But for the past 365 days of my life I have done something infinitely more amazing.

For the past year I have allowed five children to live in my house. And trust me, there have been many days out of the past 365 when just allowing my children to live to the end of the day was quite a feat.

Not only have I allowed said children to live here, I’ve kept them fed, clothed, schooled, piano lessoned, and churched. I’ve kept their teeth clean, their laundry clean, their dishes clean. I’ve broken up their arguments, I’ve laughed at their made-up jokes, and I’ve watched their favorite movies with them.
These children have benefited from my kindness over and over in the past 365 days. I’ve bought them toys on their birthdays and Christmas, and I’ve made sure that they had fun things to do on occasion, including trips to the zoo and to the movie theater.

They’ve been showered with hugs, kisses and love. They’ve been taught Scripture, and they’ve been encouraged in their knowledge of the Lord.

So I’d like to ask you to please vote for me. I don’t really know where you would go to vote for me. I’m not running for anything. There isn’t a website that is taking nominations for a “Nice-Lady-Who-Allows-a-Ton-of-Kids-to-Live-in-Her-House” of the Year award. No agency is asking people to text in their choice between a movie made out of either my life or some other lady’s life. Although if someone was brilliant enough to make a movie out of my life, I know that it would bring in dozens of dollars at the box office.

But if you ever have a chance to choose between me and someone who just cooked all year (which I also did,) please pick me. I thank you, and these children thank you.

Let’s see Nora Ephron make a movie out of that. (No, I mean it. Can we please see Nora Ephron make a movie out of that? I could really use the money…)