(No pain intended for couples struggling with infertility or miscarriages, of course)
I often struggle with what to say about the social perception that having lots of kids means there total chaos reigns inside my house. I know that I used to believe that birth control was justified because "I wasn't a mother who could handle lots of kids". It turns out, that God's grace is a mysterious thing.
One recent Saturday, I woke up to discover that Maria was finally old enough to be entrusted with the task to flip our brunch pancakes for the first time ever. She's my baker, so this was a big deal. So I got out my camera.
Once I starting taking pictures, I realized "Wow, there are four young kids in this small kitchen but life is still pretty peaceful." This is typical and yet it is still surprising to me. In this shot are Maria's 5, Tess is 2, Alex (talking about Cub Scout jokes with my husband) is 8. Happily crawling around the kitchen floor is Baby Abigail age 1. Not picture is my 10 year old who was still peacefully sleeping upstairs.
Being the Mother or Father of a larger than average family is not an impossibly hard job. More people, I think, could do the)is far better than I do but fail to give themselves (and the graces of marriage) enough credit. Praise God for the Catholic Church who gently encourages us to be open to life and gives us the grace and wisdom to follow God's lead in family life.
St. Teresa of Avila, pray for us!
