Oh baby...FEVER!

I'm really hoping that I don't have baby fever just because there are SO many women around me who are pregnant. There are 5 women at my church alone who are pregnant, and 2 ladies just had babies last month! Maybe i'm longing to have another because I am around them a lot...
My littlest kiddo is only 16 month's old, and my oldest is 29 months old, (Basically 2 1/2 and 1 1/2). I had them really close together (not planned). I can't even wait an entire TWO years to be pregnant again...? What's going to happen if I do have a third, am I going to want another one right after that? Im only 20, Im going to have 20 kid's by the time I'm 30!
I feel CRAZY! We don't own our home, we are still paying off our debt, my husband has only been at this job for three months, our car would not fit another car seat in it (I have been researching narrow car seats..I have found a few...we could make it work...) and my husband is not CRAZY about having one right now either.
So...WHY do I want another one so badly?
I dont know!
I just imagine a picture in my head of DH and I with four beautiful little kids, all close in age. The chaos, the laughter, the fighting, the cries, the diapers, the mess, the stress...the BLESSINGS! I mean, really...all the above reason's are reason's that today's society would not have children, and I cannot think like society! Most of society label's children as burdens, and the average family is only 2 children! When I went to get my IUD taken out, the doctor said "so, what are you going to do now to prevent another child...?" Why do I have to be preventing another child? Why do doctor's PUSH birth control onto women so much? Now, they even sell the morning after pill at any pharmacy and you don't need a prescription if you are 17 or older.SEVENTEEN! That is NOT an adult! I know doctors are going to be pushing that one!
Im just saying.
Romans 12:2 "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will."

I was reading an article today from "The Christian Mom's Outlet". I'm going to paste it in here and pray I don't get into some kind of weird trouble for doing so. But, it really is a good article about children and today's society and what the bible says. It is LONG- but made me open my eyes!!!!!!! You'll be glad you read it.



Children are a Blessing from the Lord
January 13, 2008 by Gina
Filed under Faith, Family, Featured
4 Comments
Lately, we have been listening to the Jonathan Park series on creation with our children. The Scripture they keep referring to is, “…and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.” (I Peter 3:15) The series is about how science actually supports and proves the creation story in Genesis. It’s really quite fascinating; facts I didn’t know about and I hope to understand as well as cultivate in my children so they are prepared to give an answer for their beliefs.

Anyways, when I go out, I usually get the comments of “My, you have your hands full” or “Are these all yours?” or “My, what a lot of children!” It really drives me nuts. I feel like giving a rhetoical answer, “No, I just go around the neighborhood and gather up all the children I can find to go grocery shopping.” But as of late, I felt like the Lord has been dealing with me to “be ready to give an answer” for the hope that lies within me. To have an answer prepared for those who see that I am expecting another child and wonder “what ever would poessess someone to have 6 children?” (This was an actual question someone asked me, by the way.)

I have never been one to follow the crowd or accept what everyone else in society accepts as “normal”. I have found this to be helpful when I became a Christ-follower. Because almost all of our beliefs go against the grain and are completely counter-cultural. The belief that most Americans hold as viewing children as a burden could be one of the root causes for people’s response to our larger than average family.

In “Moments Together” by Dennis and Barbara Rainey, there’s this snippit (A Burden or a Blessing?), which I think says it well:
Psalm 127:3,5
Behold, children are a gift of the Lord; the fruit of the womb is a reward. How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them.
Many parents today feel like kids are a burden. That’s not what the Bible calls them. It doesn’t say, “Behold, children are a burden of the Lord,” or “Burdened is the man whose quiver is full of them.”Our views have become distorted. What we see as a burden, God sees as a blessing. Some of us need to knock the windows out of our corrupted views and let the Spirit of God come into our homes and refresh our hearts and minds so we can see clearly again that children are a blessing.
Don’t get me wrong. Barbara and I will be the first to tell you we are in process with our children. We have failed many times. And I have been so frustrated, after exhausting all rational reasoning, all reward systems and all “biblical approaches,” that the only thing left for me to do was yell, throw a box of Kleenexes at the floor, slam the door and walk out-just like my kids do. Which just convinces me that one of God’s greatest purposes for parents is to bring us face-to-face with our own depravity.
We want life to be easy, or at least bearable. And when children make our lives difficult, we begin to feel they are burdens. But we fail to realize what God makes clear-our children are gifts from God. God has given us our children for His glory and our good…

If children are a blessing, then where does the blessing come from? Genesis 33:5 says “And he lifted up his eyes, and saw the women and the children; and said , Who are those with thee? And he said , The children which God hath graciously given thy servant.” Children are a gift given to us by God. Why would He give us such an incredible gift? Deuteronomy 4:10 says, “Specially the day that thou stoodest before the LORD thy God in Horeb, when the LORD said unto me, Gather me the people together , and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children.” So that the message of salvation and of God’s love will be passed on from one generation to the next; a righteous line of servants.
Of course, the most famous children-related verses is Psalm 127:3-5
Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward.
Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth.
Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them!

Here is Matthew Henry’s Commentary on Children as a Blessing
The value of the Divine blessing.

- Let us always look to God’s providence. In all the affairs and business of a family we must depend upon his blessing. 1. For raising a family. If God be not acknowledged, we have no reason to expect his blessing; and the best-laid plans fail, unless he crowns them with success. 2. For the safety of a family or a city. Except the Lord keep the city, the watchmen, though they neither slumber nor sleep, wake but in vain; mischief may break out, which even early discoveries may not be able to prevent. 3. For enriching a family. Some are so eager upon the world, that they are continually full of care, which makes their comforts bitter, and their lives a burden… Our care must be to keep ourselves in the love of God; then we may be easy, whether we have little or much of this world. But we must use the proper means very diligently. Children are God’s gifts, a heritage, and a reward; and are to be accounted blessings, and not burdens: he who sends mouths, will send meat, if we trust in him. They are a great support and defence to a family…

So it is that many children from the Lord are a blessing, but only if you keep Christ as the center of your home. The point of the Lord giving us children as a heritage and blessing is so that He may be honored in “bringing the little children to Him.”
Matthew 19:13 Then children were brought to him that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples rebuked the people, 14but Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” 15And he laid his hands on them and went away.

And so, when people just have to say something to me because I have more than the average 2.5 children, and who do not act all crazy when we’re in public (for the most part;) I have an answer for them. Children are a blessing from God. They are a gift entrusted to me to bring to Him when all is said and done in this life. There is no possession that I may take with me when I die, but if I can live in eternity with my family, my children whom God entrusted to my care, then it is worth all the self-sacrificing and putting aside my selfish motives. While others may strive for earthly gain, I am striving for a heavenly reward that I might enjoy with those I love. I pray that God can use those awkward moments to bring glory to Himself and that I will have the courage to say what is really in my heart; being ready to give an answer for this amazing journey God has given to me.

Phew! Long read, I know. I hope you got something out of it though, I know I did! Im not saying that everyone should have a ton of kids, I respect everyone's own personal decisions, from having 1 kid, to 10 kids or no kids!  To each it's own, but this did make me re-think my role as a mother, and helped transform the way I think of families and children!