There are some great benefits to raising a small herd of children close in age. Children in big families learn to share out of necessity, if your family moves their best friends move with them, there is rarely a lonely (or quiet) moment in the house, and the children don’t really know what it is to have the world revolve singularly around them much at all.
But the downside can be that children in a large family also rarely have moments and times that are their own exclusively.
Five years ago, when Boy 3 turned two, we watched as he realized in the singing over candles blazing that this was his moment. It brought sweet joy to my heart to see my son relish his own unique celebration, and glory in the love and attention.
I will forever treasure that happy two-year-old face, a gift to me in ways my heart can hardly express. The third son can get lost in the mix, caught up in the shuffle, and strung along behind big brothers. But this day is when Boy 3 embraced that he is our unique and precious son, loved, and so very important to us.
Today that boy is seven years old.
At his party Friday, it happened again. Never in my life have I heard the Happy Birthday song sung so loudly. Thirty children screamed and yelled, and the rowdy birthday boy exalted in the moment.
I baked the cake for him, I set up an obstacle course, I invited a slew of friends, ordered the pizza, and I thought I did all of it to bless him.
But now I am carrying the joy of seeing your son full of happiness close to my heart. There can be no greater joy in the world than this beautiful shining light of love I feel today.
I love being a mom. I love to love these sweet little souls that scurry about me all day. These are the best years in so many ways. God has blessed me abundantly, and I am in awe of the love, of the joy, and of the way motherhood presses God so deeply into my soul.
