More kids = More Patience???

Some thoughts/advice from Barbara Curtis at Mommylife... as we anticipate being "outnumbered" with baby #3 coming after the holidays. May God use these precious gifts of life to continually turn our eyes off ourselves and onto Him!

you can read the entire post here

Pray for Patience

So often I hear, "It's okay for you to have so many kids – you’re so patient/calm/organized/whatever."

That's not how it happened. Actually, it is through years of living with so many children that I have become patient/calm/organized/whatever.

I used to be a normal person.

How I wish I had reexamined my attitudes about sleep, for instance, before my fourth child. It would have saved me a lot of frustration. Instead, I muddled through many demanding nights - feedings, earaches, tummy aches, wet beds, bad dreams, sleepwalking - fighting for my right to eight hours sleep or mourning the loss of it. Now I know the meaning of sweet surrender. It is so much easier to be awakened at night if you never expected to sleep anyway!

My motto: "Sleep less, live more."

So, if parents of big families seem different, it's just that we've given up a lot of things we used to think were important - sleep, completed conversations, clean floors.

We're not heroes, we've just thrown in the towel, too worn out to fight for our rights anymore. Patience, calm, organization - they're just part of our survival kit. After all, we'll have plenty of time for all the sleep we want when we finally graduate from this 101 course and start writing our Thesis on Empty Nest Syndrome.

In the meantime, I try to remember to count my blessings before counting the dirty socks on the floor!