WONDERFUL DAYS AHEAD

Dear Lovely Ladies, I omitted to share an important fact in my post, “I’m Done” yesterday. As I read your comments, I notice many precious young mothers feel very overwhelmed with their little ones. Yes, it is a fact that the most engulfing time of motherhood is when you have your first two or three children. You have to do everything for them. You don’t have any help and it is often exhausting. I remember when I had three children in 17 months (I cheated and had twins)! I hardly had time to go to the bathroom. Tiredness was like a pain. But I survived. I look back and remember these days with joy.

However, there is another fact that many young mothers don’t yet realize because they haven’t yet experienced it. And that is that it gets easier to have another child when you have older children. It’s not the mothers of six, seven, or more children who feel so overwhelmed.

What happens is your little children grow, and as you train them, they become such wonderful helpers. When a new baby comes into the home, instead of this little one adding a burden to the home, they bring more joy and blessing, not only to you, but the whole family. When you have children who are growing older, you have so many hands on deck to help--to hold the baby, to goo and gah at the baby and keep your baby smiling and laughing, to bring this and that to you while you are nursing, to help with the dishes and housework, to cook a meal, and to keep the home running smoothly. You are getting to the reward time of mothering.

Every baby brings more love into a home. Not just love for the baby, but a new wave of love for every child in the family. Many mothers of larger families have shared with me recently how when their new baby came into the home they were renewed with love for motherhood and for every member of the family. Every time you put your new baby to the breast, prolactin is released which makes you more motherly. The more a mother puts her baby to the breast the more motherly she becomes.

Currently I have two Above Rubies helpers in my home. What a joy they are. Both come from larger families. Shelby is the eldest daughter of nine children. This last weekend her mother and siblings came and stayed the night with us. Oh what utter joy to see the love between Shelby and all her little brothers and sisters. They adore her and she adores them. And what a joy to have this precious family sit around our table for our Friday evening meal. They were all so well-mannered, polite, and delightful. At Family Devotions they spontaneously answered questions from the Bible and prayed beautifully. And what about this mother of nine children? She looks like Shelby’s sister. No one can believe she is the mother.

Shelby was telling me that a neighbor’s three children played at their home every day. They would say, “We love being here because it’s more fun, there’s more children to play with, your mother is so calm, and there’s no stress.”

Lizzy is in the middle of a family of twelve. She says “I just love being part of a big family. There is so much goodness. I would hate to be in a small family (although I don’t know what that’s like).” She also has loads of cousins. Her mother is one of three girls-- one sister also has twelve children and another thirteen. I know these families personally--they are filled with love, joy, and life even in the midst of difficulties and sorrows.

I think of my daughter, Serene (Trim Healthy :Mama). Serene recently gave birth to her eighth biological baby (although there are 13 in the family because she also adopted five). Her testimony is the same: “Oh mother, I have even more love for all my children since little Remmy was born.” And it certainly isn’t without difficulties and challenges. Remmy was born with a tongue tie (since cut) and an extraordinary high pallet which makes it impossible for him to suc.k milk from the breast. Not to be outdone, she continues to nurse Remmy at her breast, pumping her milk so he can receive milk from a tube while he tries to suc.k at the breast. But, in her big family, with also so many other things at her beck and call, such as releasing their two new books (Trim Healthy Mama PLAN, and Trim Healthy Mama COOKBOOK), interviews, and filming, she is fulltime “Mrs. Pump.” She pumps her milk for every feeding and then feeds him in the way mentioned. She couldn’t do it all without the older children.

Is she complaining and miserable because of all this extra load. No, joy fills this home. There is no greater joy for Colin and I to pop over to them in an evening and bask in the peace, joy, and love that fills their home as they all sit around every evening and fellowship together as a family. The atmosphere is “rich” with delight.

Forgive me for going on and on. I could keep going on and on and on with hundreds of testimonies of mothers of larger families. But what I really want to do is encourage you dear lovely young moms. Don’t give up in these trying times with little ones all around you. The season changes. Your children will grow. And it becomes easier and easier.

And remember that Jesus grew up in a large family. If God thought that it was best for children to only have a couple of siblings, He would not have chosen for His beloved Son, the Creator of the worlds, the One who was very God, to be part of a large family. Mark 6:3 tells of Jesus’ four brothers and his “sisters.” If there were only two sisters, it would be a family of seven. However, “sisters” is plural and he could have had three to five sisters. He may have been part of a family of ten!

Be encouraged dear young mothers.

Love from Nancy Campbell

P.S. The picture is of Bonnie Ailshie’s family of twelve children on the wedding day of their daughter.