When I was in high school, I decided I wanted to have six children. In fact, I talked about it like it was a given--just part of my grand plan. (A friend in college nicknamed me "Six" because I held tightly to that plan.) I had met this brother and sister and they came from this wonderfully warm family with 14 kids. They actually ate in shifts. But they ate at the dinner table every meal. Somehow, they all had these strong individual relationships with their mom and with their dad. (To this day, I am trying to figure out how that was accomplished!)
Well, obviously the nickname I should have had was "Two". My plan had to give way to God's plan on that and so many other things over which I foolishly believed I could control as an adult.
I bring this up, because I've recently re-connected with the girl from my hometown and she has seven beautiful children. As I perused the pictures on her Facebook page, it actually stung a little bit to see the huge gatherings of family. As she said--it's always a party. And when her family of origin gets together with all of their kids, it's quite a wide angle lens moment. (Each of the 14 have had large families, too.)
It is really something to be around a healthy, strong family. I craved that for myself when I was a teenager. And I thought that the key was in the numbers. In my lingering foolishness, I do wonder what a gaggle full of Kid-A-Thons would be like. And then realistically, I know that it's an issue of quality not quantity. And for me, having to figure this all out as I go, two have really got me maxed out.
I guess God does know what he's doing after all ;-)
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