I know I know, you see a family with 11 kids and the first thing you wonder is how the heck they afford 11 kids. And then you ask, “What do you do”? I say I’m a mommy and Dan’s a provider and we have the most amazing God who has no boundaries, no limitations. He has blessed us beyond our imaginations. It is funny, when you do things right and you love and serve God, He never ceases to amaze. When we were dirt poor and a mere 20 years old, living in a drug infested, apartment with a couch from the dumpster and an old old bed our oldest daughter was born. We had no help from family, no involvement, no words of encouragement, but we had our daughter, each other and we had our God.
I would be lying if I said we never struggled, we struggled all right, we went into enormous debt just to survive, and we hit a financial crisis so devastating we almost lost our house, but we never lost our faith and I never turned my back on my daughter in order to make more money. I knew Dan was a man, a real man who would provide for us and take care of us. He’s mentally, physically and emotionally strong. He’s also blessed with an uncomparable intelligence. He tried college, but even then he was living on his own and working a full time job … adding college both financially and physically proved to be futile. But, that was not God’s plan for Dan. In the end God’s plan for Dan was so much greater.
You see, you have to know what you want. For me and for Dan we did not want to live a life pining for Saturdays and Sundays. I flat our refused to only see my children 2 days per week, I refused to accept a life where I was miserable for 5 days out of 7. I have always been a have your cake and eat it to type of girl. I set out to cut myself a little piece of pie. It’s possible and I know so because we did it against all odds. I want to glorify God as a mother as a wife. Luckily for me, Dan wants to glorify God as a father and a husband and so he makes it possible for me to love and serve Him by raising my children. You see life is full of choices. You have to make the right choices. I don’t understand people who have kids simply to put them in daycare from 6 weeks on. Or people who have so forgotten what it’s like to be a child that they abhor snowdays and playdough and loud excited voices. Children are your gateway, your window into heaven. If you take one second and see the world through your child’s eyes you will see pure innocence and happiness.
But we’ve become a society that is so focused on money and what we can buy that we lose sight of the treasure trove we have in our own homes. Your life is what you make it. If you are one of those people who bitch and moan on facebook everyday about the trials and tribulations in your life as a mom or dad or grandma or uncle then you are not living. You are chosing misery. Your life is a reflection of you and your relationship with God. Not one person likes you or dislikes you because of your leather couch or because of your car or because you renovated your kitchen. Seriously, no-one cares, certainly not your children. What they want and desire is you.
By God stop being miserable! You’re letting the whole world in on your misery and no-one wants to hear it! You’ve become an old hag of a person who can’t enjoy the simple things in life, hence you’re a bore to be around. You need to re-invent yourself, your life. Get a grip. Go out in the snow today and remember, if only for a few minutes, what it’s like to be a child. I’m going out to make a snowman family … see you later!