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Vanna
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| Posted: March 09 2011 at 9:41am | IP Logged
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I love sitting behind large families at church. It fills my soul with joy. Today I sat behind a woman with 5 little ones. Watching how the 4 to maybe 7 year old boys were grinning at their maybe 6 month old baby sister was so precious.
Watching that mom juggle a young toddler and the baby while still keeping watch on the other three was awe inspiring. I've never had that experience since I have 2 kids who are 10 years apart.
My hats off to you ladies who manage to do this and with such grace! ((hugs))
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Servant2theKing
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| Posted: March 12 2011 at 9:47am | IP Logged
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Just now reading your post Vanna...I agree wholeheartedly! Moms with many dc, especially several close in age, display a grace and heroic virtue that radiates through their children as well! God bless them all, and you Vanna, for honoring them with your loving observations and kind words!
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SuzanneG
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| Posted: March 12 2011 at 10:34am | IP Logged
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Right after I started going to Mass again (after having been away in college and in my 20's).....I went to a weekday Mass and sat behind a family with 6 children. I was single at the time, and I remember crying because it just moved my heart!
Several years later that mom was in a bible study with me, after my third daughter was born, and I told her about that day and we both were crying. 
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MaryM
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| Posted: March 12 2011 at 10:52am | IP Logged
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SuzanneG wrote:
Right after I started going to Mass again (after having been away in college and in my 20's).....I went to a weekday Mass and sat behind a family with 6 children. I was single at the time, and I remember crying because it just moved my heart!
Several years later that mom was in a bible study with me, after my third daughter was born, and I told her about that day and we both were crying. |
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 you got me too....
Such a nice thread to start, Vanna 
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Angie Mc
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Oh, and don't you just love to smile at the whole family! I know that large families and families with littles often need to brace themselves for unkind looks on outings - to include Mass, sad to say. I save my BIGGEST  for these families who brave it all to be such a concrete example of God's abundant LOVE for His children.
OK, now I'm , too .
Love,
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lisat.momof6
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I have 6 children and I always feel like everyone is watching me and thinking I'm CRAZY. It's good to hear some people admire us, THANKS!! 
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momtomany
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Angie Mc wrote:
I know that large families and families with littles often need to brace themselves for unkind looks on outings - to include Mass, sad to say. I save my BIGGEST for these families who brave it all to be such a concrete example of God's abundant LOVE for His children.
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Sadly, I sometimes experienced this with my gang at Mass. Now that some have moved out, are away at school, or just go to a different Mass because of work schedules, and I only have 2 or 3 with me, I make a big point of or complimenting larger families with lots of littles. Beautiful topic, Vanna!
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Lisbet
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I just returned from mass...I needed to read this. I got some 'looks' this am. 
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Vanna
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| Posted: March 23 2011 at 1:13pm | IP Logged
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I'm sad to hear that people with large families get bad looks. I'm actually shocked! I had no idea. I will make sure to give vocal encouragement to families at church. I really didn't know that people INSIDE the church would have a problem with it. That blows me away.
((hugs)) to all you mommies!
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JodieLyn
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Yes Vanna, people are people even inside the Church. Some places the general feeling is very much that children should be relegated to the "cry rooms" until they can be MORE silent than the adults.. because you know adult can shift in their seat, clear their throats, sniff, cough etc.. but a child that does any of that will be glared at.
And there are other places where the children are very welcome even with their childish noises of shifting around and bumping the pew and whispering to mom that they need to go to the bathroom
One thing I try and keep in mind is that there are people especially with hearing aids that any extra noise is amplified and they may be frowning at the noise not necessarily the child.. but it's their own difficulty (usually loss of hearing) that makes it hard. And it's much easier to not get upset at those people.
And sometimes people are just having a bad day.
And there's a lot of people who don't speak up. We've attended a church where the norm was that the families with small children sat in the cry room (and we don't as a general rule) and we've had some quiet people come up to us and tell us how nice it was to see the children.
But I've also had people cringe when my family has come in. And those same people make a point to come over and compliment our children because the reason they cringe is the people who aren't teaching their children to behave properly in public. I can remember one lady in particular who mentioned that she reacted because she thought my children would act like some relatives of hers and she was very pleasantly surprised to find herself in error. That reason always makes me sad.. that children aren't being taught to behave and so their own family wants to avoid them.
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Susana
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What a nice thread! We have been told the nicest things and we have been told the most horrible things and I've been deeply hurt. Bravo to those of you who take the time to give a sweet smile or have a kind word to say :)
I once had a lady actually come up to me while I was expecting my 4th and she put her hands over my belly (I wasn't even showing yet) and made an ugly face and gesturing with her hands saying "No more, no more!". We were at the company Christmas party (thanks be to God my husband is now self employed) and it was the boss's mother. I ran to the bathroom and cried. I couldn't believe she had done that.
Another thing that hurt a lot was when my dad was passing away last summer. I was like 7 months pregnant and had to hop on a train with my 5 children who were ages 7 and under at the time. I had only found out I had to go see him late the night before, so I literally only had a few hours to pack for all of us. Anyway, it was quite difficult as you could imagine, being 7 months pregnant and with all my little one's traveling from NM to KS, but the children were very well behaved. So in we go to the observation deck for a change of scenery when this lady says to me "Are you crazy?" I was like huh? And she again says "Who in their right mind would have that many kids?" So I mustered up the biggest smile I could and looked and the kids and said "Wow kids! What a weird thing to say huh? You all are my little blessings and I've just about never heard such an horrible thing!"
Well, the lady probably felt about the size of a pea because everyone else around me was complimenting how well behaved the children were!
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4Real Forums : Mothering and Family Life
Topic: Large Families
