You Have HOW MANY Kids???

Yes, they are all ours. No, there are no twins. Yes, they are fabulous!

We've become a bit lax in our blogging, and we mean to correct that. Of course, after our last post where our oldest son impaled his foot with a copper rod, nothing else really seemed blog worthy! Well, we did move over a thousand miles away and had a baby, but c'mon! He had a metal rod go through his foot! How do you top that?

Speaking of having another baby, little baby "C" brings our total to seven children. If you think about it, that's one and a half dozen children! (Seriously, think about it -- one AND a half dozen children; pretty funny, eh? I crack myself up.) Yes, we've officially entered into what most people refer to as "what the heck is wrong with you?"

At least, that's what I thought would be most people's reaction. Oh, there have definitely been a few jaw drops and double takes. This usually happens when Sherrie and I are out with just the baby, and people ask, "Is this your first?" Like shifting gears in a car, some people just aren't quite able to make the mental switch from "first" to "seventh" with much ease. And we have certainly been asked, "You do know what causes this, don't you?" And you should see their reaction when I mention that they were all delivered by C-section. I usually tell them that we just had the doctor install a zipper after the third child.

When we had our seventh child, we were prepared for these reactions. We knew that it was just part of the territory for parents of large families. What we weren't prepared for, though, was that the overwhelming majority of people have reacted in way we hadn't anticipated: admiration and support.

Far more often than the looks of shock and jokes about the origin or our situation, we have had people tell us how great it is that we have such a large family. People have called us blessed. They've told us how fantastic it is that our children have a built-in support system. We've been congratulated on having an amazing family. It has been mind-blowing! WE knew all of that was true -- we just didn't expect that in today's world so many other people would recognize it.

Yes, we do have a large family, and we wouldn't have it any other way. These kids are some of the most amazing people we know. We have found that more kids really just means more love.

And as for the question about whether or not we know what has caused it, rest assured that after seven kids, we've figured it out. Sherrie and I will be separating our laundry from now on.