FAMILY ALBUM
Welcome to our new FAMILY ALBUM. Enjoy! Consider submitting your family photo
and testimony as well. Share with us a favorite family past-time, why you love being a mom
or something you'd like to share with other women about the joys of family life. Enjoy
this album. It is a tribute to mothers and fathers who cherish their greatest treasure--
their family, no matter how small or large it may be.
From Preschool to University and everything in between, our family spreads out into the world bringing a part of our love and our life with them. Eight kids!! I would have said you were out of your mind if you had predicted I was to have so many children. Hey, I am an only child! But here I am, 21 years after that first miracle and still in utter awe as I gaze at the face of each individual child of mine. I am in awe of the God who could let me share His love in such a beautiful way and let my heart expand with each child, expanding in love for them, in love for my wonderful husband (every child brings us closer to each other), and in love for God.
Are there challenges with such a big family? Of course there are, but there are challenges in everything we do. Life is full of challenges and that is how we learn and grow. The family is the greatest way to test and then develop virtues and nursing skills and financial savvy and organization and multitasking and psychological skills etc etc !! Who needs a University degree? I have learned more than enough from the adventure of raising these children. Yes, it is an adventure and never a dull moment. We work hard as parents, but we are so rewarded: an affectionate, sticky toddler’s kiss; an ‘I love you‘ from a preteen; a knowing, loving smile from your teenage son; watching the older kids play with the little ones (the greatest entertainment!), watching a child grow up and help make our world a better place, and finally to grow old as parents always surrounded by loved ones and their loved ones. What a beautiful endeavor.
I can honestly say I love my life as a mother. My children have their faults (they are human and can drive me nuts!), but sometimes I look at them and I feel so much love that I think my heart will burst. Then I think about how God must feel about each one of us, His children, with our many, many faults, yet He loves us unconditionally with an infinite love. Parenthood gives us a real insight into God’s relationship with us. What a gift.
When my husband and I married some thirteen years ago, we wanted to have children right away. However, these little ones took a while in coming. After our first, it took another four years before the second. Then we were blessed with four more – one right after the other. What a dream! Undoubtedly, I am living the happiest years of my life. The birth of each child has been met with such excitement in the home that I am certain the best toy for a child is…another child! Sure they fight at times, but they also learn how to resolve their differences, to think about someone other than themselves and to not need too much.
To be the wife to a loving, hard-working husband, and the mother of these little ones, have brought me my greatest joys. It is not an easy task. Many times I say that my children are bringing me up as much as I am trying to help them mature into strong, generous, loving people of integrity. And sometimes I do hide in the bathroom and plug my ears for at least a few seconds.
My husband and I decided before we were married that we would be completely open to the life that God willed to entrust to our care, and that I would stay at home with our children because we saw this as a very important responsibility. When our children are young, every moment is one to discover and I am happy to be the one to share those moments. I bring that joy to my husband since I experience it so intensely because these are our children, not just any child. I think my being at home also affords my husband more time with our children. We have to give up some extras to be able to live this dream, but it is what we wanted. We always say that dad is the minister of external affairs and that I am minister of internal affairs. We learned this from some wonderful friends of ours. I have learnt so much (and am still learning) about management of finances, personnel, nutrition and time among other things. For example, the challenge to make our home a bright and cheerful one is faced daily – one moment at a time. We try to keep love alive in our family by saying sorry to each other whenever impatience or ill humor gets the better of us.
Sometimes the words of others tempt me to think that I am “wasting” my education by “just” being at home. But it is just a temptation, one that is unfortunately prevalent in society nowadays. Those are the nights that I sneak in to the kids’ bedroom and contemplate what a gift each one really is and how beautiful “family” is.
Time flies. I chose to put my “career” on hold rather than my family. So many women around me have shown me that there is time enough to pursue those other interests alongside our children when they are older. When they have grown up, my husband and I will know that we tried to give them the best we could – not things, but rather family and ourselves. Still, I do try to continue to foster my personal growth. After all, one can only give as much as she has. We mothers at home must take care of our health, mental and physical, not out of selfishness, but so that we can give the best to those we love. My activities in the community are another way for me to use my talents. But it is my life as wife and mother that brings me the most sublime joy. How many blessings I have received!
I chose to stay at home to create a loving atmosphere for my husband and children. Creating a home environment that makes one feel loved and learns to love requires thought and sacrifice. At one point, we chose to homeschool the chidren, as we are very interested in good academic training, wholesome literature and history with a focus on solid character training. We choose to celebrate the children’s academic achievements by a little celebration in which that particular child chooses his favorite dessert and we all celebrate his hard work and dedication. Learning with the children re-opens our eyes to the wonder of creation around us and re-focuses our attention on the primordial importance of relationships. Building trust, openness and service to others requires that I overcome myself. Truly, the work of a mother at home is more demanding and challenging than almost every other occupation, if we approach it with a professional attitude and self sacrificed dedication. This choice of profession has also allowed me to do volunteer work, start a mom's group, run a fun faith-filled evening for parents and families, and work part-time as finances required it. I enjoy being active in and outside the home. I like to participate in conferences, parenting sessions and now in my children's school. I have even found time to support a police officer in seeking the nomination for federal politics in two distinct races. It is amazing how much I can grow while being a mom. How much it has all enriched me.
After having my first child, many questions flooded my mind. Life had changed so much for my husband and I. We had worked together for many years building a business and now I was no longer there. My first instinct was to immediately return to work as soon as I found a suitable sitter. Being a self-employed business woman was all I knew. After one horrible interview after another, I became discouraged. My heart would not allow me to leave my new baby with just anyone. It was then that I met a wonderful woman with six children and some other incredible stay-at-home moms that inspired me. Through their example and encouragement, I received the strength I needed to try something that I knew in my heart I needed to do. Stay at home! This benifited our children and has improved my relationship with my husband. Now after my second child and 3yrs of motherhood, I have realized the importance of staying at home. Seeing my two girls together, sharing their joys and watching them reach those little milestones makes me feel so blessed. I wouldn't want to be any place else!
I love being a mom of a big, growing family because life is never dull
or boring at our home! Since we are busy keeping to a schedule from
Mondays to Fridays, breakfasts are pretty simple for us during those
days. But we make an effort to eat altogether as a family in the
evenings, even if it means pushing dinnertime a bit later than usual.
Sunday mornings are also special because after attending the first
morning mass at our parish, we all look forward to a big, family
brunch with the works!
My husband and I were high school sweethearts, completed our undergraduate degrees in different cities and got married – at the age of 24 and 23, respectively – three weeks after my graduation, two months before I started my Master’s degree, and a year into my husband’s PhD. Less than a year after we got married, we welcomed into our lives our first-born daughter (our honeymoon baby!), who is our joy, delight and greatest treasure. Doing graduate work and being parents is a challenge for both of us, and we struggle daily to balance the demands of school and family life. We find happiness in this struggle, and our new daughter brings meaning, purpose and tremendous joy to our lives. We have seen that being students and parents at the same time is possible, with hard work, determination, faith in God’s providence, and a lot of help and support from extended family members! We recommend getting married young (even as students) and being open to life – it has brought greater joy to us than we ever could have imagined.
Life is never dull with 6 children in the house and I declare to the world that it is actually possible to become desensitized to the noise that goes on in a family of this size. The dynamics have pretty much come to a balance with 3 boys and 3 girls on the premises. Our boys, ages 9, 7, and 5 have climbed pretty much every tree on our 50 acre property and, might I add, the oldest two of our girls, ages 8 and 4, are right behind the boys, daring them all the way. The youngest of the clan, at 9 months is, not surprisingly, the most easygoing of the bunch. As you can see, daddy has been upgrading his education and mommy (that would be me) has been staying home with the kiddies and loving it. After all, you never get these moments back. I have to admit that home schooling the lot of them has proven to offer its own set of challenges; we do so enjoy a good challenge. Our favourites tend to change with the seasons but our latest and greatest thing to do together is to make a daily break for the nearest waterhole to recharge our batteries. There is ne’er a dull moment with this bunch and now that we have officially succeeded in producing our own soccer team/ musical group/ private school, we are a force to be reckoned with.
I had not really planned on being home with my kids,
but we worked things out so that I could and I can't
imagine it any other way. I enjoy every minute of
it--from tickles, to ballet lessons, to building a
play structure, to running around the yard. Every
little moment is precious and I don't have to miss any
of it! Family life has been a real joy. I treasure
each moment.
Our life is an adventure with 8 children in our family. There are six boys and two girls. I was happy to have the two girls close together and they are the best of friends. The older boys adore their youngest brother who arrived at 26 weeks gestation and weighed only 800 grams. Our family's most exciting time together is when we get away on a ski trip. Our five older boys play football; it is great to see them excel in a sport they all enjoy playing. We are living an adventure that is priceless and no where near it's end. I am thankful to have my husband's support and our faith to get us through.
If anyone had told me 21 years ago that I would be the mother of these 10
children I would have laughed and told them they were crazy-- and yet here
we all are. After 3 or 4 kids it began to feel like there should always be a
baby in the house, because they are so much fun and bring out the best in
everyone-- especially cranky teenagers. As my own childbearing years come to
a close, I think over what a ride it's been and continues to be. It's busy,
quiet, noisy, insane, relaxing, inspiring, bewildering, peaceful, grueling,
manageable, hilarious and prayer-filled-- sometimes all in the course of one
dinnertime! I've heard older mothers say they wish they'd had more kids-- I
know I'll never say I wish I'd had fewer.
Our family has recently moved from a downtown apartment in a big city to a house in a very small town of 4500 people. Whether we are in the city or in a town, we like to spend our family time going for walks, rain or shine or snow. In rainy weather, we dress in yellow slickers, rubber boots and umbrellas and splash in puddles. In glorious sunshine, we spend time at the beach or playing in a park. Considering our three children are under the age of five and a half years, everyone is happy doing the same thing. My husband and I relax, hold hands and the kids get us all to themselves - no phone, no e-mail, no interruptions. Sometimes, we drive to a smaller town in the surrounding area to explore somewhere new. We usually try to have a weekly outing of this kind. That's how we like to spend our family time together.
When we look at our children, we marvel at how uniquely gifted each one of them are. They all contribute to making our home a special place. The richness of interactions in a large family makes each day a new adventure.
I love being a mom of a large family because we have such a wonderful time
when we get to be together!
My husband and I have six children. The first four are less than five
years apart in age. After a break of 11 years, we had two more
children. A surprise and further blessing was that the 6th is a boy,
after 5 precious girls. When women found out I was pregnant in my 40's,
so many responded with enthusiasm and encouragement, and confided that
they would have liked another. Needless to say our own children were
overjoyed. Children grow so quickly and it seemed that no sooner had
the two youngest arrived that the oldest ones were heading off to
university. I must add that their rooms at school are plastered with
pictures of their young brother and sister. We are grateful our home
will be filled with the joyful noise of children for many years to come.
Here is our family of 9!! My husband and I have been married for almost 13 years and we have 7 children - 5 boys and 2 girls. Our oldest 4 are boys 11, 9 , 7 and 6 --- then we were surprised with a girl who is now 4 and then another little boy who is 2 and our youngest a perfect little girl who is 6 months. What a noisy household we have!! The boys keep us on our toes, but we are thankful for our girls who finally put some pink in our home !! I love being a stay at home mother, and as soon as I became pregnant with my first I knew it was what I wanted to do - I quit my job and haven't looked back since! Our absolute, hands-down favourite thing to do is go for walks together. We try every night to get out together for a walk. Now, this includes the 9 of us, plus every neighbour kid who sees us leaving!! One night I think there were 5 extra boys with us! We looked like a gang out there! My least favourite thing, and every mom (7 kids or not) would agree, is laundry --it is a never-ending pile!! What a blessing my children are and we are thankful every day for each and every one of them - and pray to God for more!!
Family life is busy, noisy and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. On Saturday mornings, we crank up a tune by the Barra McNeil’s called, ‘Don’t call me early in the morning’, which is a peppy Irish jig. Even the most tired parent can come alive as all seven of us dance in the living room. I have grown in more ways than I ever thought as a mom, and my heart nearly bursts with love for these kids.
My family is one of Nature's masterpieces.
Each child is such an incredible blessing - so unique and wonderful. I love
being a mom because it is just so much darn fun!
I'm glad that I became an elementary school teacher before getting married and having a family of eleven children. I wanted to be home with my children because I had fond memories of my mother being my main caregiver. I used skills learned for teaching in raising my children, but most importantly I was present for their many accomplishments and disappointments. Although it was a big sacrifice to leave my teaching career, the rewards were far greater as a mother knowing that I gave my time and efforts to those I love and am responsible for. There have been many precious moments that made all the difficult times bearable. My parents passed on their deep faith for which I am ever grateful. Their example of putting our needs first over their's in service of our Lord was a valuable life lesson. My children tell me their favorite times are when we are all together. I was blessed with an equally faith-filled husband who was also raised by his parents and always puts our family's needs above his own.
