Letting God decide the size of our family

We are a quiverfull family. Most quiverfull families are large, but not all. Most everyone's first concern in having a large family is fincances. My basic answer when someone asks me how many children we plan to have is this: Money just comes and goes, and if God gives us another child, He WILL provide the means to take care of him/her!

When we were first married, I was on a chemical birth control pill for a month. They messed me up so bad emotionally (and who knows what else it did to me!) that Myles took the last one and flushed it down the stool and said "You're NEVER taking those things again!" LOL! It was bad! I was back to my normal self almost immediately.

It was partly that and partly just a gentle conviction after our first was born that we decided not to ever use birth control of any kind ever again (except we are open to considering abstinence, which is the most full-proof! LOL!) Right now Myles is not really wanting any more kids for two reasons; finances and because of all we went through with ds3 this last 15 months as well as the pregnancy! I can't blame him for feeling that way, but I do believe, and so does he, that we'll have at least one more child.....we're not done yet! We're both in our mid-30's, so we've got lots more time! :) And even though he says he doesn't want to *try* to have any more right now, we're really not preventing it in any way, so it's just a matter of time, IMO!

I'm sure it's much more difficult for men who are the sole financial providers for their family to really trust that God will provide all his family's needs. I know it seems harsh, but it really comes down to a matter of faith. Once a person realizes that God will indeed always provide for His children, then what other excuse is there? Also I believe that nearly all families could cut back *somewhere* in their lifestyles to be able to "afford" another child or two, but many don't want to give up certain things.

For us the problem is debt. With our house and van as well as a couple of credit cards, we would have another $1200/month if they were all paid off!!! That is a LOT of money for us, especially here in our state, where the cost of living is not very high compared to most places in the US.

I would guess the 2nd reason, at least among Christian families, for limiting the number of children they have is probably the health of one of the parents, usually the mom during pregnancy. My opinion is the same on that.....God will take care of you! Now, I don't believe you can just sit back and eat whatever you want and never exercise, and smoke, drink, etc. and expect perfect health and a perfect baby. I do believe though that everyone can always be healthier. Excess weight gain can be prevented. Gestational diabetes can be prevented. The HELLP syndrome can be prevented! (HELLP is what I had with ds3.) Now, though I do believe this, I also realize that we do not live in a perfect world, and things will happen that are beyond our control, but is that really any reason to say you'll never have another child ever again? You may not have the same problems with the next pregnancy! I know in my situation, I could have eaten much better and prevented HELLP, so I plan to do that next time and have already made improvements in my regular diet. (I ate almost 100% raw vegan the last week before he was born and my obvious symptoms were almost gone and my blood/urine tests were actually better....but still not good, so he was delivered that day.)

I'll shut up now, but that is my 2 cents. :) People with no kids or a limited number are just missing out! Hey! I am entitled to my own "opinion", right? :)

Letting God decide the size of our family

We are a quiverfull family. Most quiverfull families are large, but not all. Most everyone's first concern in having a large family is fincances. My basic answer when someone asks me how many children we plan to have is this: Money just comes and goes, and if God gives us another child, He WILL provide the means to take care of him/her!

When we were first married, I was on a chemical birth control pill for a month. They messed me up so bad emotionally (and who knows what else it did to me!) that Myles took the last one and flushed it down the stool and said "You're NEVER taking those things again!" LOL! It was bad! I was back to my normal self almost immediately.

It was partly that and partly just a gentle conviction after our first was born that we decided not to ever use birth control of any kind ever again (except we are open to considering abstinence, which is the most full-proof! LOL!) Right now Myles is not really wanting any more kids for two reasons; finances and because of all we went through with Jack this last 15 months as well as the pregnancy! I can't blame him for feeling that way, but I do believe, and so does he, that we'll have at least one more child.....we're not done yet! We're both in our mid-30's, so we've got lots more time! :) And even though he says he doesn't want to *try* to have any more right now, we're really not preventing it in any way, so it's just a matter of time, IMO!

I'm sure it's much more difficult for men who are the sole financial providers for their family to really trust that God will provide all his family's needs. I know it seems harsh, but it really comes down to a matter of faith. Once a person realizes that God will indeed always provide for His children, then what other excuse is there? Also I believe that nearly all families could cut back *somewhere* in their lifestyles to be able to "afford" another child or two, but many don't want to give up certain things.

For us the problem is debt. With our house and van as well as a couple of credit cards, we would have another $1200/month if they were all paid off!!! That is a LOT of money for us, especially here in our state, where the cost of living is not very high compared to most places in the US.

I would guess the 2nd reason, at least among Christian families, for limiting the number of children they have is probably the health of one of the parents, usually the mom during pregnancy. My opinion is the same on that.....God will take care of you! Now, I don't believe you can just sit back and eat whatever you want and never exercise, and smoke, drink, etc. and expect perfect health and a perfect baby. I do believe though that everyone can always be healthier. Excess weight gain can be prevented. Gestational diabetes can be prevented. The HELLP syndrome can be prevented! (HELLP is what I had with Jack.) Now, though I do believe this, I also realize that we do not live in a perfect world, and things will happen that are beyond our control, but is that really any reason to say you'll never have another child ever again? You may not have the same problems with the next pregnancy! I know in my situation, I could have eaten much better and prevented HELLP, so I plan to do that next time and have already made improvements in my regular diet. (I ate almost 100% raw vegan the last week before he was born and my obvious symptoms were almost gone and my blood/urine tests were actually better....but still not good, so he was delivered that day.)

I'll shut up now, but that is my 2 cents. :) People with no kids or a limited number are just missing out! Hey! I am entitled to my own "opinion", right? :)

Frolicky Friday

Ack! I wrote this last Friday, saved as a draft and then just realized that I haven't added pictures and published it yet! Okay, here it goes!

***

Well, the last two Fridays we were on vacation. We definitely played a LOT with our kids! We had a blast!

Now we're back to our routines, and though we're not real busy people (intentionally), we do get caught up in the day to day stuff so easily! I have been purposing to play individually and as a group with my kids more, and it's been fun! But the *focus* day is Friday, so today.....

We had a picnic! Jacob decided he would be the photographer, but he didn't take pictures of people. Oh, well. I snapped a few.

That is MARKER all over his face! Ugh!

Just pizzas and Dr. Pepper....easy enough!

"What's going on up there?"

A couple of bees decided they wanted to try Jayla's Dr. Pepper. (The kids usually drink water or something non-caffeinated, but this was a fun picnic, so we all got one!) No one was scared, screaming or running away! I was so proud! :) The bees were friendly, we just left them alone and they eventually left the DP alone.

And here are a few pictures taken by Jacob and some OF him since he kept saying "Take a picture of me!" He's either hogging the camera or running away from it, there is no in between! LOL!

I wasn't feeling too great today, so I laid down with Jack for a nap. A little while after Myles got home, Jack, Jayla and I played Barbies for a while. Jayla is starting a new girls club since Jonathan is in a club with his good friend, Daniel. So I guess this was our first meeting, and Jack was our honored guest. :) Jacob came to join us eventually too. He just kept making his Barbie do flips. LOL!

The kids are all getting ready for bed now. We just finished playing some card games; War and Go Fish. I think Jonathan won them both.

That's about all I can take today, and I can't even sit here any longer, so I'm about to go to bed. We had fun though, and the kids want to keep playing! That's always a good sign. :) I think Myles may still be playing with Jonathan in the bedroom. Cool.

More little Jacobisms!

Yep, he's so full of them, let me tell you! I know these aren't as funny to other people, so bear with me. :)


I went to pick up the kids from AWANAS last Wednesday night. I was running a little late, so they were standing at the door watching for me. They ran outside and met me half way. Apparently Myles didn't notice or care about Jacob's bare feet when he took them?


I looked down at Jacob and said, "Where are your shoes???!!"
Jacob, with a sad expression: "It's a lo-o-o-o-ong story, Mommy."


I don't think any of my kids have ever said that to me before, especially at the age of three! LOL!


Oh, I actually have one more for you.


I got my hair cut yesterday. Jacob told me it looked hilarious (and he could barely pronounce it). The hair dresser said "No, it looks gorgeous, not hilarious."


On the way home he sounded upset at being corrected and said, "Mommy, your hair is NOT gorgeous, it's hilarious!"

Update on Jack

(About a month ago, balancing on one knee and one foot!)

While I'm waiting on lunch to finish cooking and the kids are all outside squealing in the front yard, anxious for our picnic, I thought I'd give an update on Jack. It's been a while! I guess because he's been doing so well lately.

I believe it was back in July, he had a fever that got really high one Saturday afternoon. It resulted in a seizure and three days of alternating Motrin and Tylenol to keep it from happening again! It was very scary.

Since then, however, (really since about 8 months when he started gaining weight on the formula, with the exception of the seizure), he has been perfectly normal and is really catching up in his motor skills! All of my kids have been pretty "laid back" for the most part. Jacob was my earliest walker at around 13 months. My first two were 14 months. So considering Jack's setbacks in addition to being born early, I think being close to walking at 15 months is pretty good! He can stand alone for a few seconds but is still very cautious about it. I was hoping he would take his first step on the beach. How cool would that have been? Oh, well. He's close though.

As far as talking, he's always been a big "talker" and is rarely quiet. He doesn't say a lot of words though, but he is starting to. When he wants to reach for something and touch it (like a picture on the wall), he'll reach as far as he can and then start saying "tickletickletickletickle". So cute! :) He says Mama and Dada and imitates simple sounds. He can say quite a bit if you count the imitating. He also signs milk and airplane, but not often. He loves to smile and wave at anyone who looks at him. :)

Just before vacation he got his first tooth! My others all got their first at 9, 9 1/2 and 17 months. (I'm not sure why Jonathan got his so late!) So around 14 1/2 months is good! His 2nd tooth came in 6 days later while we were in NJ. He likes his teeth. He thinks they're funny. LOL!

I can't remember how tall he is now, but he was close to the 50th percentile on his last check, I believe. And he is around 24 pounds, so he's doing great with his growth! Even though he is packing it on now, he does seem to have a smaller bone structure like Jayla. Maybe not, but he just seems smaller.....with a Buddha belly. :)

He crawls everywhere and has been crawling for a few months, but he is still very slow. I'm deciding it's just a personality trait though since he has been doing it for so long now. He never (so far) has gone through any separation anxiety stage either. He doesn't like to be left in a room alone, but what kid does? My 8yo doesn't either! LOL! But as long as someone is with him and he is not hungry, sleepy, etc. he is very happy and laid back.

One of his favorite things is playing with Jayla, or maybe I should say, one of Jayla's favorite things is playing with Jack! She makes silly faces and noises, dances around and is just plain silly, and he just laughs and laughs! He laughs at his brothers too, but not like he laughs at her. They seem to have a special relationship, perhaps because she is more "motherly" than the boys are.

He still consumes mostly raw goat milk but does eat small "meals" throughout the day. He had almost a whole banana a little while ago and I cut up a few grapes for him as well. He will be completely off milk (like we all are) in a few more months, but for now it is at least half of his diet, if not more (in calories). Mainly because he is still so young and only recently got two teeth. He is also vegetarian, so half our family is meatless! :) (I'm going to work on the older boys, but it will be a gradual process. I want to introduce meat substitues to start with and then just other meatless foods that they love so they don't feel deprived. I want it to be their choice too, so there will be a lot of education and patience involved! Sorry, getting side tracked.)

So because of his delays and his personality, he seems to be overall on about a 10-12 month level. Compared to my other kids though, since they were also more laid back and not hyper at all, he is probably between 12-14 months, so he's doing really well!

And now that the picnic is over and the kids are playing (an hour and a half later), Jack and I are going to take a nap. (The others do something quietly in their beds when I nap, and I sleep light nowadays.) My computer is ancient, so I'll get the pictures from vacation on here eventually. (sigh)

Jacobism

I had to charge my phone today in the van because I couldn't find the other charger (haven't unpacked everything yet). So Jacob went outside with me and looked through the few remaining snacks that were still in the van. He chose a microwaveable Mac & Cheese (which was actually his daddy's) and waited patiently for me to get off the phone.

His patience eventually ran out and he left me by myself. The thought briefly crossed my mind that he may try to make it himself, but I dismissed it and finished up my conversation.

I opened the door a few minutes later to the sickening smell of something burning. Yep, he had put it in the microwave, and several minutes later it was still going strong!!! I walked into the kitchen just as he opened the door. There were still over 20 minutes left! LOL! It was a big, black mess. The smoke was so incredibly thick. He hadn't put any water in it at all. I thought he would at least do that much!

So the funny part is that when Myles arrived home a few minutes later, the three of us were in the kitchen as I was explaining everything to him. Myles started laughing, and when Jacob saw that he wasn't mad about it, he decided to speak up.

With the sweetest smile and voice you can imagine, he looked up at Myles and said, "I made it for YOU, Daddy."

Maybe you just had to be there, but it was so cute and funny. :)

I opened up a bag of ginger cookies (also left over from our trip) and let them all share it. At least he couldn't burn those!

We're back!

Well, we made it home nearly 24 hours ago! I haven't been on the computer much at all today and probably not much tomorrow. We have so much unpacking and cleaning to do!

In these last two weeks, we drove nearly 4,000 miles, crossed 4 mountain ranges and went through 14 different states! We saw the sun rise over the Atlantic ocean and set over the Delaware Bay on the same day. We saw family and friends I haven't seen in about 15-17 years. We visited an Amish and Mennonite area that was really fascinating. And we ended up making it home with two new pets.

So I've got a lot I want to blog about (and it will probably fill up an entire scrapbook - or two - really fast), so be watching for several entries soon. :)