Sometimes I think it’s crazy that we have nine kids. In this day and age it’s a lot of kids for one family. Let’s face it…the norm is two, maybe three. Even four seems like a lot to many people. I know my sister has gotten comments about having four kids. She just laughs, thinking to herself, this is nothing, you should see my sister’s family!

When Andrew and I got married some friends asked us how many kids we wanted. We were 18 and 22 and hadn’t really thought about our family in depth. Jokingly we both said, “Five!” Then laughed and laughed that we both thought five and didn’t know it about the other!

Then when we had our first two, twin boys, we decided maybe two was enough. We never thought kids would be so difficult! And we always figured I’d go back to work and the kids would go to daycare and school. I spent a long time sending out resumes with no responses and soon found myself longing for another baby. Okay, maybe we’ll have 3…

It’s not like it just snowballed from there. We struggled with how many kids we should have on and off over the years (I’ll tell you that story sometime soon). There were times we thought we were done and there were words from others that were hurtful and hard to take. Not many support the idea of a large family anymore, but thankfully we have those around us that have and do.

Well, fast forward a few years and a few kids later. Here we are at nine kids, pretty awesome kids if  I do say so myself!

But, if you know anything about me, I like even numbers. Silly I know. But I do. Andrew teases me about it all the time; that and the fact that I need the stripes in the comforter straight when I make the bed.

So…..

This summer Andrew and I will celebrate 20 years of marriage, a nice even number.

And….shortly after that we’ll add baby number 10! Again, a nice even number 🙂

Crazy? Maybe.

Happy? Absolutely.

Abundantly blessed by our awesome Creator, the One who created this new being to be a part of this family and this world at this time? There’s no doubt.

So there you have it, 10 kids in 20 years. I figure, may as well stick with what we’re good at, right?! And it’s not too far off from what we said the day after our wedding. It’s just five AND five!