Baby Boy was going strong in his longest sleep stretch yet when the earthquake started rattling our house--we wouldn't want him to know the pleasure of a full night's sleep, after all. Dad and I are major overreactors to perceived safety threats, especially when fallen nature is involved, so we rushed madly through the bedrooms, gathering up babies. We got everybody outside in pretty good time while all the sane people in town dreamed they were in hammocks gently swayed by tropical breezes. 5-yr-old thought it was a wonderful adventure, 3-yr-old was enraged at having been dragged from bed, almost-2-yr-old was utterly confused, baby was glad somebody remembered it was snack time and woke him up for it.
It was kind of a reassuring drill. The more babies we add, the more terrifying my worst nightmares get. I feel like the
Rockbiter. I can only carry so many babies out of a burning house at one time. If our oldest were the only one, she'd be getting held through these things instead of being asked to hold her little brother's hand.
Letting God pick your family size means trusting him for a lot more than getting all the groceries paid for. Trusting that everyone is in his hands becomes a very literal exercise as soon as you have more than two small children.
7 comments:
I was thinking along the very lines of your last paragraph earlier today.
And we didn't even have an earthquake. Just me actually leaving the house and taking an almost-4, a 2, and a newborn to the library by myself. Ha! (To the library, it may have in fact felt like a 5.5 or so on the Richter).
More to love, more to lose. More lessons on trust, to be sure.
A mother of 9 in our parish said all she could do was pray after baby #2, since the Lord had only given her two hands. Oh, and now she has almost 40 grandchildren.
You had an earthquake!?!?
She has 40 grandchildren!?!?
*faint*
OK, I was off by a few. I added them up; it is 32 and counting. That is probably still in faint zone, as one of her children is not married and the youngest child is not yet 30 with 2 kids so far.
There's an 80-something couple here with 9 kids. When they have a family gathering they fill up rows and rows of pews. I'm not sure what their official numbers are, but we get regular reports on how many great-grandkids they've acquired since the last quarterly meeting at Ladies' Aid.
And if I end up buried in rubble, I bequeath my share in this blog in equal parts to Reb. Mary and the Gauntlets.
I like your blog but do you really connect the earthquake on "
fallen nature"?
I hope to learn more about what you think.
Thanks, Liz
Fallen nature in the "cursed be the ground because of you" (Gen. 3:17), "All creation groans" (Rom. 8:22) sense. Anything that causes pain, destruction, etc. is indicative of the fall and God's curse on man and nature.
I seem to recall reading somewhere along the line that Martin Luther even believed the devil could cause natural disasters? Don't have chapter and verse on it, though (if I'm even remembering right).
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