They Come Cheaper by the Dozen

Ever since as far back as I can remember I wanted to be a mommy. About four years ago I met the man of my dreams and I knew that I wanted to have a beautiful family with him. I wanted to have six kids. That’s a nice, even number I thought, the kids will have plenty of playmates and, because there will be an even amount of kids, no one will get left out.

Well, then I had a kid... and another. And I saw how much work goes into being a mommy, how difficult every day can be and all the craziness that these two children brought into my once peaceful life.

Now I want twelve kids.

I know, I know. I should be checked into an insane asylum. What sane adult would actually want to bring this chaos and torture upon herself? I’ll tell you who- a mommy. If someone asked me why I love being a mommy I don’t think I could give them a very coherent answer. All I know is that taking care of Lily and Malachi and loving them and wiping their noses and bums and holding them when they fall down and cry is the only thing that I want to be doing with my life.

Being a wife and mommy is a high calling, an important task and a tough job. To be totally honest, I’m really not a very good mommy. I yell at my kids when I should be patient with them. I grumble when my sleep is interrupted by a pitiful cry in the middle of the night. I’m selfish and lazy when I should be a servant to my family. The only way I’ll do any good at all in being a mommy to two kids- much less a dozen- is by the amazing grace of our God. For some reason He picked Joshua and me to raise these beautiful children and so He’s the one that will see us through to the end and teach this Gardner family to serve Him with everything we’ve got.

I don’t know how many kids God will give us, but I do know that however many little people that we have running around this house is the perfect number for this family. And I’ll thank God for the craziness.