It's pretty amazing to think that I am the mother of seven children. I never thought I would ever have this many kids. My priorities were so different in my late teens than they are now. Before I came unto Christ during my early twenties and was baptized, I only thought of career, clothes, parties, jewelry and a living a life free as a I please.
But then I got baptized and that all changed. I realized that motherhood was important and that all that other stuff was not.
Fortunately, I met and married a man who has encouraged and supported me in my mothering. We both went from thinking we'd have only a few kids, to accepting that neither of us believed in contraception, then to accepting that we would have a large family.
He has encouraged me in homeschool, supported extended breastfeeding and even co-sleeping with our babies.
There was a time when he was hesitant to accept more children, and that resistance stemmed from fear. A large family and a wife who stays home is expensive and a lot for a man in this day and age to be able to provide for. We have certainly sacrificed and had very difficult times over the years.
Instead of relenting and giving up on having more children or putting the kids in school and me going to work, my husband kept the faith that God would provide for us. So we decided that we needed to become self-reliant and buy land and a home and raise our own animals and grow our own food.
This is hard to do when you have no savings. So we made a plan. Before hearing of Dave Ramsey's financial advice we began to, "live like no other, so you can LIVE like no other!"
We bit the bullet and moved into a very small living space for one year while we saved money. Once we'd saved enough money (and all the while through the grace of God and generous church friends,) we moved out of state and bought an 80 year old house on 10 acres.
In answer to prayer my husband said to me one day, "I can't imagine not having children around. If we have 10 kids I'll be okay with that."
I am not always the mother that I long to be, I don't always have faith that we will be victorious, or to handle adversity without complaint, but with the help of my husband I think I am becoming a better daughter of God.
I write about our lives on the "homestead" on my Susan's Homespun Life Blog. If you are interested in self-reliance and home industry, check out my blog. http://susanshomespunlife.blogspot.com/
Read the poems I wrote:
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4 comments:
you are very beautiful, by your words and your pictures! Be encouraged, and keep encouraging others. You do such a wonderful job! We all need love!
Shine On,
Shawna
ps-awesome poems, you have a knack for poetry and song writing!
Tir-dyed doula,
You are so sweet. I so appreciate your encouraging words and taking the time to coment!
You keep up the good work too!
wow Susana beautiful post and beautiful YOU! We need more women like you, to encourage motherhood... I am pregnant with my third child but something inside of me wants another one, a total of 4 kids... I love motherhood, you are such an inspiration :)
Thanks Enith, for stopping by and leaving your kind words.
I am grateful that you enjoyed the post and glad that you love motherhood, too. (Although it does drive me nuts often!)
BTW, I am happy for you that you will be able to be home for the first three years of your son's life.
When my newest son turned 6 weeks old I pointed out to my other children that many women return to work when their baby's reach that age.
They were shocked and saddened. They couldn't imagine leaving our baby with anyone else, nor could they imagine being a baby left without its mother/family.
I explained to them that in some other countries, like Sweden, the government helps mom's to stay home for the first couple of years.They thought that was MUCH better.
God bless you and your husband Enith,
Susana
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