And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” Genesis 27-28

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Less is More

The number one question we are constantly asked is how do we do it with such a large family? Well, that is the #1 question after I am asked if they are all mine, do I own a TV, or am I Catholic or Mormon. But over and over people ask how its done. I don't really ever know what to say. I don't have a magic formula, I do it because I have to. This is what I have chosen and have been entrusted with and so day by day I trudge on.
I have thought about a few things and I know as a family we aren't concerned with all the stuff that alot of people are. We only have one vehicle which we've made work for almost 2 years. My kids hardly have any toys, as they don't play with much.We don't have beds for everyone of our children, as a couple kids sleep together on bigger beds. Everything in our house is used. We don't buy new, and for our family it really doesn't make sense when the kids have the possibility to trash it at anytime. Most of the things we do or own aren't conventional and I think that makes it hard for others to understand. For us it isn't thinking outside the box, its living outside the box!!
I know a lot of people just wouldn't be willing to do or give up what we have and I am OK with that. Our table is a conference table that we bought on Craigs list and sadly matching isn't in my vocab when it comes to decorating. Kent and my room is the smallest of the house so we could all be on the same floor, which is what I wanted. We even made our room in the dining room once. Dressers have more than one kids clothes in it because really how many clothes do we need anyway. Kent and I have shared a dresser for years. We have never paid for cable. Our one luxury is our phones, that is the one thing we have yet to give up. But in pretty much every other area of our life we have tried to live on less.
 I know that God has blessed us with these children because all the STUFF isn't a big deal to us. Don't get me wrong I like the stuff as much as the next person, and sometimes I cry over the stuff we don't have. I fear that our children are missing out on the stuff that others have. But at the end of the day the stuff doesn't matter, family does.
 We have learned that I can live with out it because we have had to. But honestly if we had an abundance of money I still wouldn't by all the stuff. I would spend it going places with my children and making memories. That is what is more important to me.
 Please hear my heart,  I don't say this to judge others, I am just explaining just one of the things that we do to make it day by day with such a large family.

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