Miracles Do Happen

Having four kids ages five and under tends to draw attention from strangers. As I've mentioned before, most comments are the typical one-liner of, "You sure have your hands full." (Can't anyone be original)? I can even claim to have been out in public with just the two girls when someone said that to me. I got a kick out of replying, "You don't know the half of it!"

Occasionally though, shortly after giving birth to our fourth, I've had friends and closer acquaintances say to me, "I don't know how you do it." Or, "I could never do what you're doing." It always cracks me up to hear that because I often wonder the same thing of families who have more than 5 kids, moms I see around town carting along their triplets, single mothers, and the wonderful families who are raising a special needs child.

On a more personal note, I often wonder the same thing within our own family. How did my grandmothers each manage to raise five and six kids? How, oh how, did my great-grandmother manage to raise 10 kids? To compound matters, these inexhaustible women did it without many of the modern conveniences we have today. Can you imagine hand washing even one load of dishes for 10 + people on a typical given dinner night? I can't even begin to dream what diapers and laundry were like. And on top of that they lived in an age when men were not expected to assist at home. They did it alone. 'How do I do it?', people ask? Easy. I don't do it alone. I am fortunate enough to have a modern day husband who is willing to do anything at home from changing poopy diapers to helping with chores and making dinner. When I imagine how my grandmothers' lives were during their child-rearing years, I realize that my life must be a trip to the beach in comparison.

Before Christina was born, I wondered how I was going to raise four babies under four years old. In fact, I fretted over it. With time I've learned that you take what God gives you and do what you have to do. You do what you're called to do. And the tools you need to deal with each day will come. It doesn't mean that I haven't had days when I've just wanted to escape. Certainly there have been times when I've felt like giving up, had a bad attitude, or even flipped my top over the craziness of it all. But I've learned that those times are temporary. A seemingly impossible day is often replaced by a good one, come morning. I know that constantly giving myself up to unselfish love, as parenting requires, is going to reward me far more than anything else I could be doing with my life. More importantly, as a result of that effort, a new generation will benefit from growing up in a loving home and will be able to pass that love on to others.

Some of the practical benefits of raising kids are beginning to come back to us already. I'm not talking about the emotional rewards, such as baby's first smile, hugs, kisses, cuteness, etc. We of course, live for that feedback from our kids, but we are also actually beginning to see a slight reduction in our household work load. For example, yesterday the boys found me raking last year's leaves and before I knew it, they were joining me in my efforts. Result: instant time saver- at least 15 minutes of work. Then after dinner, Joe took out the recycling and Allie and Aaron cleared the table, while I did the dishes and John got the baby ready for bed. Result: another 10 minutes of work that we didn't have to do. More and more I am realizing that for the first time in five years, I am taking care of only one baby. Yippee! I believe I am beginning to see a light at the end of this multiple-baby tunnel! Indeed, miracles do happen. And we are the luckiest parents to have four of these miracles right here under our own roof.