4 Moms Q&A

It's always nice to hear from someone who has been where you're going, so to speak.  I haven't been reminding you guys weekly, but the 4 Moms Thursday panel is still going on!    4 different moms, with a combined total of 35 children share their experiences and advice on Large Family Mothering.    Definitely a must-read for those of us raising several children, homeschooling, etc! 
This week, they are answering readers' questions and there are some neat ones.   I tend to start reading here, with Kim C. and move on through the list, but you can do whatever floats your boat!

Connie @Smockity Frocks

Raising Olives

The Common Room

Hello world

Well.....we have the the FLU.    We've been stuck at home since Saturday morning when Daddy woke up feeling pretty yucky.    Since then, it's been a veritable fog of Tamiflu, ibuprofen and various other meds and herbs.    Hopefully we'll be seeing a light at the end of the tunnel soon!  Until then, here's a neat little video about the Bates family, you know, the Duggars' best friends?? 
Enjoy!!

Gil & Kelly Bates Family

Whirlwind week!

We just got home from THIS super-duper conference where we heard some awesome men of God speaking.   Several families from our church went, so we were able to enjoy some fellowship with them also.  It was a great time and we got even more confirmation that we are walking exactly where God is leading us in our family.  More about it later, tonight, I'm exhausted!  

So many in need, so few who are willing....

We are so blessed to be at a church where families are celebrated, supported and encouraged in their walk with Christ.  We are also blessed to be in a place that loves children, not just everyone's biological children, but adoptive and foster children as well.   Several families in our church have been able to bring home, through adoption, precious little ones who desperately needed a real family to belong to.   What an amazing opportunity they have been given, to grow up in a loving environment, with parents who truly desire the best for their lives.   Not just the "world's best" either, but God's best. 

Yet, this isn't always the case.   There are homes all over our affluent country (yes, even despite a "recession" we're still one of the richest countries in the world!) that have empty rooms, empty chairs at the barely used tables, and people who are unwilling to see the need they could fill.   In other parts of the world, children are going to sleep at night who haven't been held, haven't been smiled at, haven't been loved.    Even in our own country, there are children who need to be rescued from the loneliness of growing up in the social services system.    Every night, just wishing they had a Mommy and Daddy....

That's why stories like this one are so heart-breaking to me.   So many people in this country take child-bearing for granted.  They cut off God's blessing of children with birth control, they run to abort precious lives because they deem it an inconvenience.   It must break God's heart to look down on these little ones and see their pain.   I wish I could hop on a jet and bring one of them home with me.   But, what I can do is pray, so pray I will. 

"I left my heart there."

Wow! Thought I would share this with y'all.

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Yes, Lord, make me more like You.

God doesn't give us children because we deserve them, or because we are "special" or have more patience or ability...(chuckles) no, maybe it is the opposite. Maybe he gives them in abundance to those who need the most refining.

Maybe children are the gift of life from God that forces us to die, that sweet place where we become true vessels of His glory.
I say, "Yes, Lord, make me more like You".

Kelly - Generation Cedar

I love these guys!

Congrats to the Duggars! #18 on the way!

Neat video from their Mother's Day appearance on the "Today" show.