... Party of Five + One

As my family has grown, I have caught myself thinking- "What's the big deal? We have 4 children, it's really not that many!" Why do people say "WOW, you have FOUR kids?" I don't feel it's that many, but I can understand why it may seem like a lot...
For nine years we lived as a family of four- according to http://www.wiki.answers.com/ our family was smaller than average. We loved our 'little' family. We went to and fro with ease. Life was good! About year seven as a family of four, I began thinking about whether or not I was ready to be an empty nester. At that point it would have happened to me around the age of 39. This was also the time in life where I was finally settling into my identity as a mother... prior to this I identified with the idea that motherhood just 'happened' to me and it was something I struggled with truly becoming. I was seeing God's plan for my life and our family, I had a strong inner voice telling me that there were people missing in our lives, there were empty spaces at our dinner table that needed to be occupied.
We went from a family of 4 to a family of 6 within the window of 3 years- and it has proved to give all of us a greater perspective on life and a balance to our family in so many amazing ways. We may not be able to get a seat at a restaurant without a reservation (you know, tables are made for a party of 4, not a Party of 5 +1), attend the fair with one discount package purchased at Safeway, or have large college funds for each of our offspring. However, we are better parents and better people who are learning to care a little more about others than ourselves each day. And we have children that will hopefully turn out into the world with sensitivity to the opposite sex because they were raised with both brothers and sisters, children who share more naturally with others since they've HAD to for years, sons who see the value in waiting until later in life to have babies, and daughters with a strong sense of what type of man they should seek.
Thank you, Lord, for our "WOW, you have FOUR kids?!?" family!