Ever since I've known her, my wife, Jennifer, has loved kids. She spent most of her teen years babysitting for family friends and neighbors. During college, she was a live in Nanny for family with 4 kids (2 boys and 2 girls). Even after college (when I met scored my first date) she was finding her way into caring for kids by working as Nanny off and on for various families even until after we married. In the 12 years since I convinced her to tie the knot, we have had 2 children of our own, adopted 1 and are in the midst of adopting 2 more. Yes, that makes 5, and yes, they are all girls. Our oldest is ten years old, then seven, four, 19 months and 12 months. Throw in a dog, a turtle, a few rats and fish and we are truly a full house.
We find ourselves loving the life we have created and yet even the best of days can seem like a lot of work. We seek council in others who have parented before us and are always looking to learn something from other large families. So lets share our ideas, our concerns, our problems and our solutions and together we can become even better at what we were called to do - raising great families.
Since the first humans walked on this planet, the most basic and most critical unit has been the family. Families serve as a creation point for new people. They raise, shape, and set free these new beings to become part of society. Without strong families, society will not be strong. Without families, there would be no society at all. We need a strong society, we need a strong country - and for this reason (among many) we need strong families.
Let's take this blessing one day at a time and do our best with the family we have been granted.
