Friday, June 26, 2009

Boy, your hands are full!

We had 6 children in 9 years. One of our daughters died soon after she was born, so technically we've only raised 5 children. But whenever someone would see us together at a store, the comment was invariably, "Boy, your hands are full!"

My reply was always, "Full of joy!"

Here is a wonderful blog entry from someone else who has her hands full of joy. I wish I had thought all this through when my children were babies and toddlers. But there's still much to learn from Jennifer's post even though my children are 4 - 12 years old now.

It seems 5 children is so far out of the norm now; people were amazed not only at their number but how close they were in age. Most people are happy with their girl and boy. They are "allowed" to have 3 if their first 2 were of the same sex - to "try" for their opposite sex child. I always cringe when I hear a Catholic couple say "We're done. Our family is complete."

2 comments:

Linda said...

Hi Lisa,
I see you and me are new blog members with Catholic Moms Online and I thought I would stop in and say Hello. As a mom of five and now a grandma of 1 soon to be a whole "hand" (Five), as she calls it I can so relate. And I too cringe when I hear people say they are finished. Like is there an option? I would have had 10 if God gave them to me.
Keep on keeping on!
Blessings,
Linda

Marie said...

I was asked at my daughter's baptism by another mother baptizing her child if we were done, because they certainly were. . . . I only have three but the other day at the store a very nice lady asked the ages of mine, when I said 3, 6, and 9 she told me that was such perfect spacing! I was very glad my kids did not ask what that meant, I think the idea of scheduling births would be kind of disconcerting to young minds. . .
Thanks for the blog, nice work.