Children = Bliss

"How can you say there are too many children? That is like saying there are too many flowers."
             -Mother Teresa

As many people may know, I want like...a bazillion children. Okay that may be an exaggeration, but I'm hoping for at least 7. Luckily I've found the world's most awesome guy that is okay with that, because nowadays they're very hard to come by.

I know I might seem incredibly crazy to some people, but that's why I'm here to tell you how having a lot of children will encourage my fiance and me to become better, more selfless people, while strengthening our marriage at the same time.

When people hear "lots of children" they usually wig out a bit. Most people wonder, "How in the world are you guys going to afford that?" but I think the biggest problem is that most people don't understand the definition of "afford." The word "afford" does not mean having enough money to buy everything you want. "Afford" means being able to have food, clothes, and shelter. That's all you need to survive. My children will never starve. They probably won't be eating steak off of a solid gold platter every night, but they will not starve.

Nowadays we don't work to survive. We don't even work to afford the common necessities. We work more because we want more stuff. We work harder because we're not okay with just "comfortable" living. We constantly need more and more and bigger and better. We are never satisfied.

Because of our fallen human nature, our natural instinct is to be selfish, to want more for ourselves. It's something that each and every one of us suffer from. Today the divorce rate is higher than ever, and I can guarantee you it is because couples are having less and less children, and buying more and more for themselves. They become caught up in the material world, and the material world is a very selfish place. With more children, husbands and wives learn selflessness. They focus less on themselves and their feelings, and more on others around them. They work harder because they want to give their children better lives, not because they want more for themselves. They learn to survive without the luxuries, and they learn to live more simply. My fiance and I will probably not have the funds to get each other the most expensive things, but we will be able to share the joy of the children that God created for us, and I'd take that over anything.

By choosing to have a lot of children, my fiance and I are choosing comfortable and doing away with luxurious. Instead of giving more to ourselves, we are choosing to give more to our children. Sure the money that we could have used to get a brand new car will probably go towards diapers, but to me that's a bit more rewarding. I think people are afraid that the more children they have, the less they will have for themselves. And that's actually a very true statement. By having a lot of children I am giving less to myself, but I know that I'm gaining something so much better. I'll have a bunch of little cuties running around calling me "Mama,"and I think that's worth a whole lot more.