Yes, My Hands Are Full!

I am a stay-at-home, homeschooling mother of 4 beautiful, amazing kiddos. Katelyn is 7, Joshua is 5, Allison is 4, and Aaron is 2. My husband works a lot and on his days to work he pulls 12 hour shifts. So you can imagine I pretty much have the children with me at all times. I can say with absolute certainty nearly everytime I leave the house and go to a public place I will hear "Wow! You have your hands full!"

Now, this comment is often fine, coming from very nice people who are amazed to see a family as big as mine these days. But sometimes the comment is made in such a way that I feel the commentor pities me, or feels sorry for me in some way. I have found this slightly irritating for quite sometime and never really knew how to respond... until I saw a mini-van not too long ago. You know those stick people families you see everywhere? (I totally have one myself.) Well, this van had a stick person family with a daddy, mommy, and 4 kids just like mine. And under the family it read "Yes, my hands are full... and I love it!" I thought "Yes! Yes! That's exactly what I want to say!"

I have 4 loving, creative, incredibly unique little beings in my life. I birthed each and every one of them and have loved them from the start. The Lord chose to bless me in ways I had never imagined possible. There was a time in my life, after having suffered miscarriages, that I wasn't convinced I'd ever have children of my own. I questioned God, as hard as that is to admit. I questioned everything actually. It was a time of much uncertainty and heartache for me. Yes, my days are overwhelming at times... okay let's face it, quite often! There are days when I think "What am I doing? Staying at home, homeschooling, spending 99% of my time with the kids!" But I love it, I really do. Even the hard times. We are blessed to be a family of 6. So yes, my hands are full... and I really, really do love it!

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