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Saturday, July 25, 2009

Words of Encouragement

Dh delivered a pizza thursday night to a school and noticed a SUV with 8 children decals on the back window. Excitedly, he asked the lady to whom he delivered the pizzas to, who the owner of the SUV was. Sheepishly she responded it was hers. He shared that we too had 8, as he was sure she thought he was going to say something along the lines of how crazy she must be.

Today, when we were at a fast food restaurant, a family with 5 children came in. The mother had a wearied look. A look I know all too well. Annoyed by staring strangers, feeling defensive of rude comments and inappropriate questions. It wasn't a look that says, "I am dead tired" or "Someone please take my kids and send me to the funny farm". No, this was the "Don't go there look". I've worn it all too many times myself.

How sad is it that we feel so discouraged every time we leave the house? That we have to be on the defensive any time we are out with our family or the topic of family comes up? That we even have to come up with comebacks for the comments because we get them so frequently?

To those women and others like us: be encouraged. There are men and women out there championing the cause; standing up for our right to have large families. Last time I went grocery shopping a driver had to stop, roll down his window and ask; "Are they all yours?" When I responded with a smile that they indeed were he said, "Thats great! What a blessing!" Then once inside the grocery store someone else stopped and told us that we had a beautiful family. My mother took it upon herself to send an email to her congregation chastising them for not supporting large families. And then she asked that they pray for mothers, that they might be blessed with even more children! How encouraging is it to know that not only is there someone out there that thinks your family is great, but praying that you can even add to it?!

I wanted to share my words of encouragement with others who need it: You have a beautiful family! What a blessing! Children are a joy!

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