24 September 2010

Family: Big or Small we are still Family!

Dialogue from this morning as Tyler was leaving for work:

Lori: "Give Eli and Siah an extra hug, they are going to gram's and won't be here tonight to see you."
Tyler: "It is good I don't have to go to the dump tomorrow, I would have to go alone."
Lori: "You would have Andrew and Caleb;  The average family has 2 kids.  For those men that is all they have."

I found this quick exchange to be quite interesting on many levels.  It is not because Tyler doesn't think of the little guys, because he does.  It is just that he equates having just two of his boys as not really having a full team.  We obviously have a different perspective on family size than the typical American.  Definitely something to ponder on a rainy Friday...


I have always viewed family size through different eyes I suppose.  As a child I was one of four, sometimes three.  It always seemed as though we were average size, even a little small for a family. Completely contrary to the supposed National average of 2.3 or something like that.  

I have complete strangers come up to me in the store and express that I have a lot of boys, and wonder if I am done.  I am sorry to all of you nosy people, but I don't see 4 boys as a large family.  In my mind we are barely average size.  If anyone asked me I would say that 1-3 children was a small family; 4-7 children was average size, and 8+ constituted a large family.  With that said,  I do not see myself ever being a mother of a large family.  

Size is relative of course;  and whether your family has 2, 6, or 13 what matters is who your family serves.  Even a "family" of 1 who serves Christ is important, maybe even more so than the family that doesn't serve Him.  

2 comments:

Jenna said...

loved this post!!! its so true, i even find my self saying those thing sometimes. but in reality 4 children is not a huge family, it is fairly average!

Amanda said...

I love that you have a godly perspective on family size, Lori. And after all, you are so right, family size is all about God's glory- be it small, medium or large! : )