The Busy Life of Large Family Mamas

What happens when you have a mom of six that is nine months (37 weeks) pregnant to boot?  You have one busy mommy!  Between attacking the never ending laundry pile, homeschooling, and always finding ways to save money on things I need, there is not a whole lot of free time.  I'm not complaining because I'm one happy mama.  The craziness of my life brings me joy.  Odd as that might seem, my paycheck doesn't come from a company.  Being with my kids every single day of the year is the biggest payday I could ever have.  Time is so short with them I'm afraid to blink.

My latest challenge is a barrage of insults of people whether in real life or online that absolutely can't stand me because I am having yet ANOTHER kid.  The personal emails I get would shock you for how evil they can be.  Or when I get cornered (literally in a corner) with someone telling me why they think I'm having this many kids.  I just nod and say "surrrrre, THAT'S why."  The more kids I have the more enemies I didn't think was possible to make.  Well, it is possible.  So, if you are not Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, or a large family mama, you are safe.  

Want to know my latest (almost) freebies?  I got 6 Dawn dish washing soaps, 5 tooth pastes, 5 tooth brushes, 8 whole grain Barilla pastas, 3 dill relish, and one pack of Pepsi Next for a total of $3.  Whee!

Michele and I being goofy!

As I was picking up the Dawn liquid soap, a guy pointed out to me that the news had talked about the blue ones yous see in the picture.  They are safe and fantastic to wash your dog with because they kill fleas and ticks.  So, I set those 3 aside for my husband to use on our dogs.  :D  He was happy about that.  I bought some other groceries and saved about 70% off my bill.  :D  I love saving money for my family and my best friend and I really enjoy couponing and shopping together when we get a chance.  

I've been wanting a little dog for quite awhile but haven't had a chance. The last one I had died from injuries and I then dog sat a friend's dog for 5 months in another instance.  I was still waiting for my little dog and finally got the chance.  My kids are major animal lovers too and we are thinking next we might want a pygmy goat.  I might wait for better weather though before getting a goat.  Caleb carries around that chicken like it's his teddy bear.  The chicken doesn't even mind and even follows us around.  Another PLUS is we finally started letting our chickens walk around the yard wherever they want. We always worried that our big dog would kill them but he doesn't even care about then.  I hated having the chickens on the far side of the house where we couldn't see them. Now they just follow us around the yard or the kids while they are playing.

BY THE WAY, come visit my gorgeous niece Hanna's new poetry blog.  She's not just any girl, she was the first to make me an aunt, she just came back from missionary work in South Africa with her family.  She would love for you to pay a visit to her blog and leave a comment.  :)  

  http://whenthebluebirdsing.blogspot.com

31 Days to Clean - Priorities

(Day 5-31 Days to Clean)

I'm super excited about this post because I want to share something I just stumbled across this morning.  As I was drinking my coffee and lazily scrolling down posts on Facebook, my eyes widened when I saw the post 31 Days to Clean on Facebook.  What?  Yeah!  Sure!  I'm so excited to finally have a simpler house to clean as of late that something like this doesn't feel like I'm adding more of a burden.  I love a good challenge because I just completed one and still am feeling the victory dance.

Sooo, I don't have a Kindle but it doesn't matter.  You can go HERE to download the ebook or you can just go onto Amazon like I did and download it.  I just installed the Kindle program for my PC but I could have also installed the Kindle App for my iPad if I had wanted.  Anyway, it's only $4.99 so it's super cheap.  Since I use Swagbucks as my search engine, I get free Amazon gift cards so technically, I got the book for free.  :D

Anyhow, I didn't see the Facebook post till Day 5 but better late than never, right?  Day 5 is about Priorities and gives two tasks to do just for this day.  I think this can be every ones struggle throughout life.  Everyone and everything can pull on us in all directions.

Jeremiah 31:25   “In the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went away to a secluded place, and was praying there.” Mark 1:35

This one is a little hard for me because my favorite time to read and pray is at night time when the whole house is quiet.  I have kids with super sonic hearing that as soon as my feet hit the floor in the morning, at least 2 kids are immediately following behind me.  Soon after comes Ivy, then Kyle, Chaz, and last is always Ryan.  So, when I wait to read and pray when they pass out, I don't have to worry about that.  I don't know.  Would love your thoughts on that one.

“She looks well to the ways of her household, and does not eat the bread of idleness.” Proverbs 31:27

Training my children up in the Lord and teaching them every day is SO IMPORTANT.  More than just teaching them their reading and writing, I love to have some bible time with them geared more at their level.  In fact, yesterday the kids and I sat down to read from the bible and we decided that since it's the beginning of the year we would just start from the beginning again with the creation and Adam and Eve.  The kids absolutely love this time and always want to sing songs and have discussion afterward.  

Yes, stay at home mom do more than this... :D

The hardest part for me is saying no to people who have requests of me that would interfere with the priorities I have for my family.  I think people with smaller families, especially with kids in school, don't understand the challenge that can come with a large homeschooling family.  There can be misconceptions that people have about homeschooling and just don't understand all the work that goes into it.  It's more than just caring for our kids at home, I want to train them in other ways as well.  I don't want lazy kids that have a mom to do everything for them.  Lately we have been emphasizing that work comes before play.  It's important to finish our homeschool and daily chores before we can run off and play.  It was different when my kids were in school because they had such long school days and I knew they needed that break to just be kids for a bit before having to do their chore.  So, all this homeschool talks reminds me of a funny video I saw today.  Would love to share!

Another thing is making time to be there for my family without it being only about work.  Often, no matter what I am doing, if my husband or kids come to talk to me I give them a full listening ear.  There is no book or TV program (if I had a TV) that is more important. I save my book reading time for when my kids are resting.  Otherwise I'd be reading one or two sentences at a time before someone needed to come to me about something.  

31 Days to Clean gave me two tasks to do today.  :)  I'm getting right to it.  

Is Michelle Duggar Trusting God or Just Being Selfish?

Ever since the news came out about the Duggars losing their 20th child there have been some big online debates.  Some are sad for them, angry at them, don't give a crud, can relate, or are quick to judge and want everyone to know.  

I know everyone is entitled to their opinion.  This is America, right?  What happens when you get a lot of people who believe their way is right and that's that?  No arguing with them.  If you disagree with them they'll make fun of you, mock you, swear at you, insult you.  What causes this kind of anger in people over just a disagreement in beliefs?

I'm so glad I don't live in a country where how many kids I have is forced on me.  Whether I want one kid or 20, that is my business.  Not anyone else's.  Whether a doctor tells me it's healthy for me to have another one or not, that's my business.  Whether people think we make enough money or not, well, that's also our business.  Just as you have your own.  Welcome to America.  

Why is there such an anger towards large families these days?  People act like this is a new thing. Do people remember life before birth control pills?  My grandma remembers.  She had 9 kids and my husband's grandmother had 10.  She gave birth to her last child at the age of 45.  Having your last child at this age was common.  Yet, people are attacking Michelle Duggar for being pregnant at the age of 45.  Why?  Is it not Michelle's body as it was yours when you got your tubes tied?  Did the doctor force you to do that?  No, you were given a choice.  I think people who have such a dislike towards large families wouldn't of liked living in the days before birth control or the understanding of Natural Family Planning.

"Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward." Psalm 127:3

Remember when having kids was considered a blessing from God?  I don't know if maybe after reading the bible several times through I somehow skipped any scripture on limits but please correct me if I'm wrong.  Where in the bible does God give limits?  I know the world can give TONS of worldly advice on the matter.  Money, doctors, health, material things, age.  I'm still waiting, and have been for a long time, for someone to point out the only opinion that matters to me and that's from the Word of God that there is a limit.

My pastor said it well.  He said, "People who treasure things above children just can't understand how someone who puts children above things can enjoy it so much.  They just don't get it.  Your children are your treasures.  Not material things." 

Recently, I heard the argument that it's not fair to the siblings. That EVERY SINGLE person they've met from a large family hated growing up in a large family.  That they had to be the mom and ended up not wanting to have kids when they are older.  Really?  So those 2 people they met are now a blanket for all large families?  Sure you have the parents that try to turn their kids into their own personal slaves but I've seen this in small families as well.  I've even seen this from families with only 2 kids.  Even if you took a poll and found 10 people from large families to say they hated being in one, you cannot throw the blanket over millions that are in one.  My husband's family LOVE being apart of a large family and are all really close.

Living your life according to scriptures will always, always bring hatred from the world.  I've learned that when the world agrees with my way of living, I might need to reexamine my life according the scripture.  Usually, when you are living for Christ (not just saying it but living it), you will get backlash from the world.  Well, smile, because that usually means you're doing something right.  Jesus died on the cross with the world spitting on Him, mocking, cursing, and laughing at him. 

Another argument people use is that large families make their kids work too hard.  Really?  Let's look back and see how kids worked around In the late 1700's and early 1800's.  An article called History of Child Labor points out that a lot of children either worked on farms or in factories for very long hours every day.  Over the years it seems to have turned into the other extreme.  Kids shouldn't have chores, teachers blamed for bad grades, and never even think about asking the older ones to keep an eye out for the little ones while mommy works on some paperwork or makes some phone calls. That is child abuse these days.  Well, the only problem with that is now employers are saying that kids are coming to work expecting an easy day, minimal effort, late to work, early to leave, and is expecting high pay. Whatever happened to a balance?  There is nothing wrong with expecting kids to have some responsibility around the house and even learn some about caring for others.  

Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. Proverbs 22:6

Regardless with what you believe, I think we should all have respect for each other.  I disagree with women using chemical birth control but I don't write hate notes on their page, send them mocking emails, or laugh at them for what I think is a lack of knowledge.  Facebook, TLC, and Saturday Night Live isn't my idea of research. The best thing any of us can do is our own bible study on issues and our own health studies.  We have to come to our own conclusions for ourselves and for our family and bathed in prayer.   In writing this, I am just hoping someone, anyone, will just understand that the best way to win someone over is using some respect and understand that not every person will agree or think exactly alike.

Fighting Mommies on Facebook

Caleb holding his pants up and dancing

My husband and I were sitting in the homeschool room yesterday and just talking about how fast time flies. Baby Caleb walks into the room with just his little diaper on and talking to us.  If he sees you have a drink he will climb onto your lap and try to talk you out of it so he can have it.  I have no idea what he's saying but it's probably some sort of a sales pitch as to why he should have that drink and not you.  Charles said, "I can't imagine not having little ones around anymore."  It's so true.  It's WONDERFUL!  Yet, it's HARD raising kids

I have people all the time say, "Oh, you just wait till they get older, it gets so much easier.  They don't wear diapers, don't need help getting something to eat, and it's easier to go places."  Yeah, that does sound easier on my body but not on my heart.  I loooove having my little diaper babies toddle up to me and take me by my hand to show me what they want. Or show me something their excited about that's tighty held in their little hand.  I love having conversations with the kids about their future even though they are only in elementary school and their minds might change a thousand times before they are an adult.  I love that the girls always want to be just like their mommy and the boys want to be just like their daddy.  Things change fast when they are teens.  

I've almost completely backed out of mommy groups on Facebook because there seems to be so much fighting over different beliefs on raising kids. People having a hard time letting each other have an opinion. There is always the argument of how many kids someone should have and what age they should stop at.  On one extreme, some feel you should leave it up to God and on the other some feel only 2 should suffice. Although there is no law about how many kids someone should have, people fight about it like there is.  If you want to start something really explosive, bring up the subject about vaccines, the Duggars, or spankings.  For the sake of my heart, I had to back out of the groups.  I looove visiting for sake of learning, gleaning ideas from each other, and the encouragement.  However, sometimes there seems to always be the fighters on there looking for a debate to start. I wish, I wish, I wish moms could understand this one point.  If they did, they could peaceably have discussions.  This applies to moms (and mother-in-laws) we know in person and moms we know online.....

There is no way to be a perfect mother, but a million ways to be a good one.