Why the name? August 2, 2007
Why- “Yes, they are all mine”? Because it is the answer to the first question people ask us.
The next answer is - yes, he is our only son. No he is not a “poor boy”. He is a magnificent boy!
The answer to the third most popular question- I don’t know if we are done. Let’s see what God has to say. LOL
We have to laugh when we go somewhere and the people at the stores and resteraunts prove that they can count to 6. Woo Hoo! LOL
Update- I have to add a few more answers in here to some questions (or comments) I keep getting. I don’t take the comments and questions negatively and all my answers are given with a smile and sometimes a laugh.
No, God did not TELL us to have 6 kids. We chose to. We love them and ya never know if we will decide to have more. This is what life is all about. Breeding? No! Relationships!!!! I won’t knock people for only having 1, 2 or 15 and no one should knock me for having 6. To each his own, right?
Our decision to homeschool and the first couple of homeschooling years were not because of God. We had not yet formed our relationships with God. We chose the homeschool option b/c of the state of the government schools. Our kids deserve so much better than that and they are worth it! Now that we have become “saved” and have a strong relationship with God we are growing every day in Him it just makes everything that much better in our lives.
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This just answered my other question, that you don’t know if you’re done having kids. And that’s funny about people being able to count to 6.
I just found your blog throught The Mom Blogs. I have heard all those questions, too! We have 6 with only 1 boy, and one on the way.
We have been blessed with just two children - so far! We are a quiver full family and after 16 years of marriage , one adoption and one natural birth, you’d think we’d give up the dream of become a large family, but we are still waiting on God! I don’t qualify to be an adoptive mom because of a life threatening illness, but we still believe that God in in control and will bless us in His perfect time! Meanwhile, we have large family envy - a bit! LOL We do our best to seek friend ships with larger familes and invite them into our home - many say they rarely get invited out, so we try to make our time together special! Bless you for you sense of humor and candor as you answer the common questions - it must get pretty tiresome!
Man, I get that with only 4 kids. I have no idea why we had 4. That’s what my husband was obsessively fixated on–the number 4. LOL
We used to get some of that too, and like “Cat, Lazy Creek Zookeeper”, we also have four children. Maybe it’s because we don’t have the average family size of 2.3 children. Or is it 1.8?
When I was pregnant with our 4th, I was surprised how many people asked us how many children we were going to have, as if we were never going to quit. Even my brother asked me that, and in exasperation I told him, “Oh, we thought about a dozen.” He replied, “You’d better get busy, then.” Good thing for him our conversation was over the phone and not in person….
I LOVE your blog name! I can relate, though it’s for different reasons. We only have two children because we felt our family was complete. They are the same sex, and people are always asking us, “But aren’t you going to try for a …?”
Have a great weekend!
http://xboxwife.blogspot.com/
I can so relate to you. I have five girls (yes thats right, all girls)! I saw a show recently where a woman said it was wrong for people to have too many kids because a big family uses up too much air and we polute the enviroment more than we have a right to. My answer to that was the only person wasting air was her and her ignorant comments. And the only polution I could see was the crap (’scuse my language) commming out of her mouth…
We too are thinking of having another child. We know before we even create it that the baby will be a girl, but we still think we just might want another….
I have four kids, ages 4 years to 7 weeks, and I get that “Are they all yours?” question all the time. I had no idea my family could be categorized as “large” until just recently. Amazing.
I found you via “I should be folding laundry.” I look forward to coming back and reading more.
May the Lord bless your socks off!
great site! we’ve only got 4, but I get asked all those questions all the time! it seems in this culture, you have one, then the second- if you get a girl and a boy people expect you to stop. if you have 2 of the same sex, you get to try for a third. if you still don’t get the boy/girl, you’re just out of luck. families that cross the “unspoken three child limit”, well, they’re just one of “those” families
we saw this when we started telling people we were having a fourth. everyone had just assumed we were done! we had 3 girls first, then our son. we’re told how busy we look etc. every time we go out, and i’m AMAZED at how many people see the car seat in the cart and come right out and ask me if it’s a boy or not. i reply yes, and almost every time they say, “oh, good!” as if they are relieved for me that we can stop having kids now. (and i feel like i want to tell them, we are done having babies of our own, but not because we had a boy! and we hope to adopt- maybe four more! and if they’re all girls, we won’t mind!) the next response is usually, “I bet dad is happy!” to which i want to reply (since they are speaking in front of our other three kids), “yes, we’re so thankful every time God gives us another member of our family!” I also hear the “poor boy” comments all the time too- and he’s only 2 weeks old! then i stick up for him and explain how blessed he is to have three sisters that love him so much! anyway, thanks for the wonderful site!
ur pretty kool if i might soy so myself
I get this all the time with my nine too. The comments don’t normally bother me with the exception of one. We were getting out of an elevator once and someone said (I still can’t believe that they said this!) “it’s like a clown car…they just keep coming and coming”. Ahhh…the nerve. It has stayed with me for many years and I have prayed for that person hoping that the Lord would give them a little more wisdom when they see another big family.
Tracy
“We have to laugh when we go somewhere and the people at the stores and resteraunts prove that they can count to 6. ” I love that - made me chuckle! When I don’t have all of my 5 with me, I like to say, “and this is not even all of us!” Adoption is a dream as well.
I shall be visiting your blog often! I just started mine and am still trying to figure out what it is.
We get the same thing, as well as “you are one busy lady.” We have 8 and only one boy also. I always answer them with “yes they are all mine, don’t you wish you could have some like them?, or I wouldn’t choose a different job if I could, so rewarding.” And I mean it!
Good for you!!! I am one of six and think large families are wonderful! Due to problems with infertility, I only have one son at the present time (he’s actually a miracle child!), but we are hoping to increase our family size in the near future!
I love the nick-names you have for your children!
We are a “large” family as well; four with one on the way and we have all girls (so far). 
I, too, am shocked at how *strangers* will point you out and say, “Are they all yours?”, “Don’t ya think you have enough?” People don’t go up to a person with ONE child and say, “Aren’t you going to try for just one more?” “Is he an ONLY child?” I don’t get it. This is my life’s frustration. 
Seriously though… my heart is full of pity for those people out there that don’t know the joys of a “big” family… we are so blessed!!
I came to your website via NQJC. I just couldn’t resist the “yes they are all mine”. We have 8 children and I say that ALL the time! I love your “counting to 6″ comment too. When we just had 6 this used to happen all the time. In the supermarket, at the zoo, everywhere! I’m happy to report that here in Australia people can’t count past 6, so we don’t experience the counting any more. We do get some really rude comments. Don’t you have tv? etc. Some people just feel they have to say, “Oh I couldn’t stand to have so many children”. To which I always reply, “My children are nice. You’d want this many if you had children as nice as mine!” It’s funny too how people all want to know how many more you’re going to have! (as if you have to pre-order them or think of a number BEFORE you start having kids!) To the question “Are you going to have any more?” I always say “Not this week!”
Yes! I get that too with four. Then I get the “Are you done yet?” I’m sorry but are we on a road trip??? Children are blessings and I wish more people thought that! I have 1 girl and three boys and she gets a lot of sympathy.
This is in response to a comment from Jen. I am the proud devoted mom of one beautiful 9 year old daughter. My husband and I have longed for more children but as of yet, God has not planned that for us. We often get questions about having only one child. “Aren’t you going to have any more?” “Why did you only have one?” “Don’t you feel sorry for her with no brothers and sisters?” I guess people can be rude and say unbelievable things no matter the size of your family!
Kudos to you! I’m glad you have 6! I get so sick of Americans only having 2 kids because they want to spoil the heck out of them! We have 3 and are on our way to number 4 (we are adopting this time round). I love hearing about large families. I agree with you…to each their own, but don’t act like there is something wrong with me for choosing to have 4!
I love seeing other big families. My Hubby and I always thought we would have 4, you know because your supposed to have a magic number to tell people, that was what I came up with. Once we had 2 children, I couldn’t believe I was halfway done. So I thought, well maybe 5 would be nice, that way we would still fit in our car. I just had baby #4 about 10 weeks ago, yeah I don’t think I’m ready to be done yet. So as far as having some magic number to tell people…I gave up on that. When we are done we will know and I don’t mind keeping that private anymore.
Funny story… My mom’s theory was that you had to have an even number of children…otherwise you will have leftover hotdog buns! My brother said he would like 3 children and then I told him about mom’s theory (in jest of course) his reply was… “I’ll just have to eat 2 hotdogs!” Ha ha ha
Ok, so I have another one. Just yesterday I was running the kids around here, there and everywhere. I ran into a family friend, who because it was so cold, sat in my front seat to chat. She looked back and saw I only had 2 children and asked where the other 2 were at. After explaining who was where, I made the comment…”yeah the car is pretty quiet, not the loud chaos that is my day.” She commented with: “Well you know…You play- You pay.” Augh! Why does it seem the more children I have the hornier people think I am? Like we are just having children because we couldn’t keep our hands off each other. Anyways, I thought of your blog after this was all said and done.
Edited by Rhen-Oh my goodness! I have met people with 1 or 2 children whose lives are far more chaotic than mine and no one accused them of having to suffer because of being overly hormonal!
I have 3 girls and 7 boys, oldest turning 32 soon, youngest is almost 9. What I have found through the years is that many, many people immediately share a deep regret (always with a touch of sadness) that they had “only” 2 or 3 children, and then go on to tell me their stories (money, medical reasons, whatever). After 10, the reasons invariably seem conquerable from where I stand, but when one is facing them, I am sure they don’t seem so. And I always feel so priviledged to be let into that part of their worlds. Never quite sure if I should be apologizing for having “succeeded” though, LOL!
I have six, too. mine are all girls. I get the same questions, except with me they’re all asking “Are you still trying for a boy?” I hate that- like a boy is some deadline that once we get there, we’ll be done. A child is a child, and it doesn’t matter if they’re boys or girls. And the previous responder is so right, all those worldly problems are conquerable. There are no guarantees in life. How can anyone know they can “only afford” 2 kids? I’ve always wanted a house full, now I just want a housekeeper.
Loving your blog, thanks for sharing.
I live in Utah…land of huge families…and I STILL get questioned. I have 4 (1 boy)…people can’t resist the “Don’t you know what causes that?” and “How many more?” . Well,
to them. LOL
I had to click on your link from Tackle It Tuesday because, yes, they are all mine, too!!
Actually, my favorite response to that question (if I don’t have them all with me) is to pretend I misheard and say, “No, this isn’t all of them!” (I’ve had people make comments when I only had 3 of them with me! Had to laugh at that one!)
We have 6 also, and one on the way. Since we have 3 boys and 3 girls right now, people are always desperately curious to know what we are hoping for next. I just tell them that the youngest two are girls, so our sons figure it’s their turn!
The other comment I get ALL THE TIME is, “You don’t look old enough to have 6 kids!” (”Thanks!”
I’m 26 and kind of look younger than that, so people are always shocked. I’ve had people ask me where I go to high school, and they just about fell over when I explained that I graduated several years ago and am now a mother of 6. Other times people notice I am pregnant and ask me if this is my first.
Oh the fun of interacting with “normal” people. LOL!
Here from Rocks in My Dryer.
I get this a lot too, and I’ve only got 4. And yes, they’re close in age, but sheesh. We also get the “oh you finally got your girl” thing, which annoys the snot out of me. Yes, I hoped for a girl, but we wouldn’t have had one more if I wasn’t perfectly ok with another boy. (And some days lately with a 2 year old daughter, I hear that old “be careful what you wish for” thing running through my head. I look forward to poking around here more. I suspect I’ll be a regular reader!
You’ll get a kick out of this post and the comments–http://fritterfarmers.blogspot.com/2008/03/ranting-i-go.html
My husband and I have so far decided not to have children (well, we have a four-legged furkid Lab/Pitbull/Shepherd mix aptly named Rascal), and I can only say how much I
*a d m i r e* all of you with large families. I’m an only child of a single mom (dad is in the picture and I have half-siblings so I feel like I got the ‘best of both worlds’ kind of thing), and enjoyed my childhood immensely. But I’m wondering at age 40 (last November) if we’re making the best decision by not having children. (I would also want to homeschool - for a multitude of reasons, and grow a lot of our own food etc… but worry about money, which shows my lack of faith)
I love reading the blogs of mom’s and families — and there are days I love my life and wouldn’t change a thing, and other days when I know I’m missing one of the most incredible experiences a woman can have.
One friend really challenged me when she said ‘why wouldn’t you experience motherhood? If you’re capable of the experience… a large population on our planet (i.e., men) can’t have children and what a very cool, wonderful, challenging and rewarding thing it is. The hardest thing you’ll ever do — yet the one that brings the most un-imaginable rewards. Why
*w o u l d n ‘ t* you want to experience all that you can while you’re here on earth??!!”
I do want to say that people who make rude comments are likely full of fear. Somewhere in a dark corner of their heart they probably admire you but don’t recognize that because of the fear — they know how hard it is if they have children of their own and can’t imagine how someone could trust Life (God, Universe whatever your belief system is) enough to put their hearts in such a fragile position. At least, I want to believe that most people are not so callous and inappropriate! Most negative stuff is based in fear - and the replacement of fear is faith, and that is something I know but forget ALL the time.
Anyway, this is long — but I just wanted to say I’ll be reading!!
I just wanted to say … Thank you! I get the question all the time “Are all those yours?” I have finally started answering: “Nope, on the way out of the neighborhood, I just thought that I would round up a couple more rowdy kids to bring to the store with me and amuse myself with their yelling, screaming, crying and I find pure joy in all of them begging me to buy them something!”
hahaha!
I love having a Large and In Charge Family! It makes life FUN, I actually enjoy not having a dull moment around the house! Thanks for sharing your moments!!! I will be to read the “FUN” of another mom with her “hands full” <- another comment I have grown to dislike!
I love the answers you give - people just don’t edit what they say! We have two, by choice, it’s the right number for us, but our girls are 1 year 10 days apart and couldn’t look more different (one’s fair-haired with green eyes and one’s brown-haired with brown eyes). Twice now I have ben asked by perfect strangers, “Do they have the same Daddy?” First response - utter silence, second response, “I’m not sure!” That’ll teach them for asking!
Great site, I’ll check back often.