words of encouragement

People are not always supportive when they find out you're having 4 kids in 5 years. The world in general, and in many cases even the Church (global), no longer views lots of children as a blessing. We live in the age of the 2.4 child "status quo." And many times, Robert and I have been on the receiving end of thoughtful remarks ranging from "you're having another baby?!" to "when are you going to start using birth control?"

But we have also been extremely blessed to have family and friends who are genuinely happy for and supportive of us and our decision to let God have control of our "family planning." And recently it has hit me how blessed we are to have a church family that is supportive as well. We are the only people, as far as I can tell, at our church who have this many kids, this quickly. I can tell that some of them, at least, think we're a little odd. Yet we have gotten nothing but kind and supportive comments from everyone who found out that we are having our 4th baby.

Two people in particular have blessed me lately. There is an elderly man named Jim (don't know his last name) who met us in the hallway one day, and started talking to us, and found out we're having a baby. He is a little hard of hearing, and he calls me "Katy" because that's as close to my name as he can get, but he never fails to remind us, week after week, that he is praying for a safe and healthy delivery for our baby. He is so sweet. And then tonight, we finally made it back to choir after being out for nearly 2 months with one person or another sick, and our choir director Wayne made quite a point of welcoming us back. He prayed specifically for us and our baby, and our ability to be good parents. I was sitting there wiping away tears. It's not that I need some sort of public validation before God - or the church - to know that we are doing His will. But it was so wonderful to have that encouragement from someone who is a leader, an elder of the church, and a friend.

I must admit, there are times when I'm nervous about having 4 kids. It sounds like a lot! And it feels overwhelming, especially on days like today when we were running on no sleep from being up with a teething 18 month old. But God used these 2 men to remind me today that He has chosen to bless us with another child. And that somehow He knows that we can handle it, even if we don't necessarily feel like it! So I am praising God for Wayne and Jim and our whole church family at Eastern Hills Baptist Church.