Those Bruce Boys

So often I feel guilty. 
I feel sorry for my children. 
I feel like a bad parent.
And here is why. 
These are the LIES I often find Satan trying to convince me of:
"If you didn't have all these kids maybe you could afford to do nice things for one or two of them."
"Your children are so deprived because you don't have them in sports/extracurricular activities."
"You do not let them do enough fun things" or "You don't take them on many fun trips."
"Your son is going to miss out because you never have enough time with just him."
"You have too many kids because you can't do fun crafts with them and entertain them like you would if you only had one or two."

And while there are some truths in those statements, most of it is an outright LIE that flies in the face of God's beautiful truth.

I realize that my children do not have the experiences that some other children have.  We cannot have all of our kids playing sports or doing an activity right now.  I cannot have regular craft time or science experiment time because it is way more work than I can deal with and by the time I get it all set up and try to patiently instruct one child another child has already gotten paint all over the floor, or put glue on the wall, etc.  Yes, I have let super readers teach the younger two the alphabet because I cannot sit down with them the way I did with Noah.  We cannot take nice vacations or little adventures like other families can. 

But you know what? 

Those "other" children will never experience the things my children will either.  They may never know the pure craziness and joy of having a bigger family.  They may never experience the madness and delight of having so many siblings to play and laugh with.  And they may underestimate the power of a sandbox, blocks, trains and movie nights courtesy of free rentals from the local library.  (I have to remind myself of this to keep from succumbing to the lies). 

Children are a blessing from the Lord, not a hindrance.  With each child, the blessing increases. 
Children need a mom and a dad who love them and will point them to Jesus.  There are so many things that our culture says they need, that is really just unnecessary stuff. 
And, you can make a lot of fun memories as a family in a simple fashion.

As their mom, I must keep my eyes on Jesus.  I need to be more concerned with instilling God's Truth in my children and raising them for His glory, rather than feeling the need to fit in with what all the other families are doing or entertaining my children.  I need to stop giving ear to the lies and enjoy what God has given me.  Each gift.

Here are a few pictures from our cookie decorating time on Saturday.  It ended up very messy.