"Don't you know how that happens?"

If I had a dollar for every time someone asked my husband or me, “8 kids? Don’t you know how that happens?” I would be rich. You see my husband and I always knew we wanted a large family, in this generation though large families aren’t as easy to come by as they once were. It seems like most people classify families with 4 kids as a large family, we went double or nothing and ended with 8... Each and every one was planned (okay maybe not the three at one time) but 6 was Bill’s number and 10 was mine, we ended perfectly on 8!

What amazes me is how many people have an opinion on our family size, the questions we get asked never cease to amaze me... but not one negative comment could possibly take away from all the positives to having a large family.

- Forever playmates, forever friends. Watching my kids play together, laugh together, work together and love together is by far my favorite thing to watch. We encourage strong relationships between all the kids. I hope one day they turn to each other when they have problems or need help.

-Work force. My crew is the best crew around, they work so well together whether it’s, cattle or building something, yard work or any other project, they have such a bond and work so well together. Many hands definitely makes for lighter work load!

-Safety net. I am always amazed at how they turn to one another when they need someone. A little secret is they all sleep in the same room, there is a king, full and twin sized beds all pushed together and if one person is gone the night never goes smoothly. They find comfort in one another and in the routine of having their bedmates!

I try very hard not to give parenting advice because anyone who knows me, knows many days I run off of survival mode. But my best advice is if you are on the edge of having another baby or not, know the greatest gift you can give your kids is a sibling!

-Darci-