Mother's Day

Let me just begin by saying....THE KIDS ARE HOME!!!! I'm so happy!  I will have another whole post about their time in Tatitlek so keep watching.  For today though, I thought I'd share about being a mom.  I mean, it's Mother's Day, right?

A couple weeks ago Husband and I took a trip to Anchorage alone.  It was a lovely drive.  6 hours each way with no one to interrupt our conversation.  We aren't "weird" at home.  Everyone knows us.  Everyone knows we're expecting our 10th child.  Everyone knows our kids.  OK, maybe we're still considered weird, but at least everyone already knows it! LOL  But going into a different town is.... well, different.

We don't have shopping where I live so I usually do a hefty amount when we go to "town".  It's inevitable that at some point while buying $1500 worth of groceries or 9 different sizes of clothing that the subject of how many children I have comes up.  This time it was Old Navy.  I was bantering back and forth with the checker, who was a BRAND NEW trainee (I was her fourth customer) and the manager that was training her.  I was kinda giving her a hard time.  But in a fun way.  We were all having a great time.  And then it came.......

"So, is this your first baby?"

"No, she'll be my 10th"

At this point you can almost physically hear jaws hitting the floor!  It's really somewhat entertaining.  This time I was met with lots of  wows and good for you type comments.  Sometimes it's not like that.  This time it was though, and we had a great time talking about my masses and how things work, etc.

But, it also reminded me how weird we are. LOL

Then, to top it off, on the way home that weekend Husband says, "Honey, do you realize we're moving into DOUBLE DIGITS?"  As if there was something momentous about that.  Like it's a big thing.  I shrug my shoulders, "Yup."

But it gets me thinking......about 10.....about the NUMBER 10.  Why don't I think I have very many children?  Why don't I think about our "huge" family?  Why doesn't my jaw drop when I think about the size of our family?  And then it hits me.  I don't have 10 children.

I JUST have Sydney.....my artist.

I JUST have Hannah.....my helper.

I JUST have Elijah....my scientist.

I JUST have Mattie.....my sensitive one.

I JUST have Luke.....my special gift.

I JUST have Joslyn....my drama queen.

I JUST have James Michael....my fine blend of Tigger and Dennis the Menace.

I JUST have Israel....my little "Echo".

I JUST have Liberty....my "baby"

I JUST have these children.  Not 10, but 1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1.  Individuals.  My children are not a herd.  So yes, 10 might seem like such a huge number to others.  But to me, I just see them one by one.

I am the most blessed mom on the face of the earth.  I hope you you had a wonderful Mother's Day today and you took time to "count" your blessing one-by-one, I did!