More Children?

Okay, I have had a couple of people ask me about my comment about babies in the previous post ("We may have another baby or two by then..."). Let me clear this up for you guys. : )

God has worked in our lives concerning this issue for several years now. Back in 2000 we had the revelation that children are a blessing!

Sons are a heritage from the LORD,
children a reward from him.

Behold, children are a gift of the LORD,
The fruit of the womb is a reward.

We had read that before in the Bible many times, but it took on a new meaning for us. If children are blessings, true gifts from God, why say "No more!" to God in that area? What other blessings do we refuse to accept? Good health? Wealth? No. We gladly accept all other blessings from the Lord.

We decided to no longer try to prevent having children and let God bless us with children when He wanted to. We believe that God works in our lives, that He knits each child together in the mother's womb. So this was an easy decision for us.

For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.

After 2 years of no pregnancies, many tears, and many prayers, we adopted our twin boys. There is a wonderful story behind all of that, but I will save that for another time.

Well, a month after we adopted E and B, we found out I was finally pregnant! We believe that God rewarded us with a gift, a baby, because we took a leap of faith and adopted our twin sons.

Fast forward several years and here we are with 7 children. We have lost 2 babies to miscarriage also.

Since Baby Girl's birth in 2005, we have struggled more with the issue of trusting God with our fertility. Let's face it~ raising children is challenging and at times heartbreaking! It would be so much easier to say "Enough, we're finished." We thought God was telling us that our family was complete last summer after Baby W was born. But now, looking back, we realize it was just a combination of hormones and lack of sleep! : )

Will we have more children? Only God knows that. My husband and I are both open to receiving the children God has planned for our family.

If we decided to stop having children at this point, I think I would always wonder who God would have given me if only I would have let Him. I look at my children's faces and I know that God put them in this family. He chose me to mother them and my husband to father them. And oh, how glad I am that He did!

I think going for a couple of years with no pregnancies, and then losing two babies, made us realize that children truly are gifts. We are at peace with this decision for our family and we look forward to seeing who God gives us next, if He chooses to bless us with another child in the future.

The Lord has convicted us of this and we believe it would be wrong for us to shut out His voice and not trust Him in this area. Do not assume that I am judging you and that I think you are wrong if you have chosen to stop having children. I am not judging you at all. Not one tiny little bit.

I know there are lots and lots of arguments against "letting God plan your family size" because I have heard them all over the years. It's okay. You don't have to agree with me. Let's not get into arguments over this please. : )