Pray for Banana

We try to pray together as a family, in our living room, at the end of the day when we are all together.  The kids kneel down at the coffee table and we begin our "said prayers" and then end with a "Dear Lord Jesus...."

I love to watch and listen to the really little ones, struggling to keep up...murmuring the prayers the best they can, and sometimes doing it loudly to really "show off", and feel like big kids too.

It is a Catholic tradition to pray for the deceased, and so our kids pray for their "Grandpa who died, and Nana".  All of our older kids do this, and then break off into their own requests and (hopefully) gratitudes...

That is the best part.  The part where they break off into their own....

I especially loved the prayer of my five year old, when she asked that we would have a really happy life.
The following evening she asked that her family would always be together, and in her own words "would never break apart". 
But just last night, our three year old boy, who has prayed only for basketball, baseball, and mentioned every boy he knows and loves, well...he prayed for banana.

We just figured out....he is praying for the deceaced too.

Praying for Nana.

More than Enough

I have been asked some amazing questions over the years regarding our choice to have a "bigger-than-normal" family.  The most common inquiry is whether or not we will have more, followed by how patient we must be, or insane we must be.  I have often chuckled to myself after someone compliments me or my husband on our appearance upon learning that we have six children.  I think the expectation is that we are supposed to look like total crap!

The point is, we have tried to take this all in stride, and have a sense of humor about it.

Until yesterday.

Yesterday I was asked the most incredulous question of them all.  I was asked if I had enough love for all my children.  This woman was telling me how she didn't know after her first child, if she could really have enough love for another child.  She did have another child, and she said, "Of course I did have enough love for that child, but is it the same for five or six children?  Do you really have enough love for them all?"

I can't really remember anything after that.  The first thing that went through my head was how I was going to blog about this moment.  I must have smiled politely or something....I really didn't have anything to say, except something along the lines of how I loved them all, and they love each other so much too.

I have been asked if I have time for them all, but I have never been questioned on my love for more than the average amount of children.  My response is this.  I think I love them more.  I have had a child when I was a young adult myself, and my last baby was born when I was 34. I like to think that I have matured through those years, that I know more about life than I did when I was in my twenties.  I value life, health, family more.  I love more.  Care more.  Know a little more, and a little more....

I also believe that the love in our family is multiplied.  A child is not only loved by their parents, but by their older siblings who can lift them up for a cuddle, or help put on a bandaid.  There is always someone to look out for you in a big family, someone to talk to or play with.

While I know this all sounds a little flowery, I admit that the negative aspects of a big family are also multiplied.  More on that in a future blog.

For now, (and from now on) my response to some of the more surprising questions will be:
"There is more than enough love to go around."