Twenty four years ago, I was a young mom in my mid thirties, pregnant with my fourth child, when we moved back to Texas, my home state, after living in Oklahoma for six years. We were very broke, having lost our house and car in Oklahoma, and I wanted to come home and lick my wounds.
I was a bit embarrassed to be pregnant again at this stage in our lives, although I was truly thrilled to be having another child. I have always loved children and wanted a large family. But having been raised during the time where "zero population growth" was preached and taught in schools, I felt like it was wrong to long for a large family. While in Oklahoma, I had fulfilled my desire for children by caring for around fifty foster children over a four year period. During that time, foster parents were not allowed to adopt their foster children (something that has changed very much for the better since then) and the loss of one of my foster babies was what had convinced my husband and I to have children again.
Yet, still, I was under the impression that it was selfish of us, and certainly the comments of many people kept that belief in my mind.
That is, until moving back to Texas and meeting a homeschooling mother at our church, who had totally different view. It was this friend who gave me the book, "The Way Home" to read.
I absolutely devoured this book, and read it over and over again many times. This book said what my heart had always felt: that children were a blessing, just like the Bible said, and that not only are they a blessing, but it's the heart of God that Christians would not limit their family size, but raise up many children for HIS glory.
Chock full of scripture references, this book explains that women are in their place and fulfilled as stay at home moms, rearing as many children as God wants them to have. It gives instruction and encouragement on how to be fulfilled in our roles as mothers and homemakers. It taught me that teenagers do not have to be rebellious, but rather they are a joy. It gave me the courage I needed to begin to homeschool my children, something that I have done now for 21 years.
I am now a mother of ten children, seven biological and three adopted from the foster care system, ranging from ages 36 down to age 4. I am so thankful for the teaching of this book and the teachings of other homeschooling mothers of large families, and also the church I attend, all of whom validated to me that my natural instinct of desiring children was from God.
This book is celebrating it's 25th anniversary, and is still as timely today as it was when it first came out. I cannot recommend it highly enough. Read it and be blessed!!
I was a bit embarrassed to be pregnant again at this stage in our lives, although I was truly thrilled to be having another child. I have always loved children and wanted a large family. But having been raised during the time where "zero population growth" was preached and taught in schools, I felt like it was wrong to long for a large family. While in Oklahoma, I had fulfilled my desire for children by caring for around fifty foster children over a four year period. During that time, foster parents were not allowed to adopt their foster children (something that has changed very much for the better since then) and the loss of one of my foster babies was what had convinced my husband and I to have children again.
Yet, still, I was under the impression that it was selfish of us, and certainly the comments of many people kept that belief in my mind.
That is, until moving back to Texas and meeting a homeschooling mother at our church, who had totally different view. It was this friend who gave me the book, "The Way Home" to read.
I absolutely devoured this book, and read it over and over again many times. This book said what my heart had always felt: that children were a blessing, just like the Bible said, and that not only are they a blessing, but it's the heart of God that Christians would not limit their family size, but raise up many children for HIS glory.
Chock full of scripture references, this book explains that women are in their place and fulfilled as stay at home moms, rearing as many children as God wants them to have. It gives instruction and encouragement on how to be fulfilled in our roles as mothers and homemakers. It taught me that teenagers do not have to be rebellious, but rather they are a joy. It gave me the courage I needed to begin to homeschool my children, something that I have done now for 21 years.
I am now a mother of ten children, seven biological and three adopted from the foster care system, ranging from ages 36 down to age 4. I am so thankful for the teaching of this book and the teachings of other homeschooling mothers of large families, and also the church I attend, all of whom validated to me that my natural instinct of desiring children was from God.
This book is celebrating it's 25th anniversary, and is still as timely today as it was when it first came out. I cannot recommend it highly enough. Read it and be blessed!!
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