Are they all yours?

I don't know if there is a single large family that hasn't heard that question. What constitutes a large family?   The United States census bureau states that the average family size is 3.20, so in reality an average family has one or two children.  Although we don't normally think of a family with three or four children as being "large" I do know many people who have four children and they do get asked this question.  I also know some families who upon announcing that child number three is on the way end up receiving negative comments.  The consensus seems to be that if you have two, and one is a boy and one is a girl, why would you think of having another.  Now, if you have two of the same gender, let's say two boys, then that's okay that you would like to try for a girl.  Three seems to be okay, but four is when I think you really start to get the questions.  "Are they all yours?  Are you going to have any more?  Do you know what causes that?"

Now that we have nine children, people rarely ask me if I'm planning on having any more.  I think they probably assume that I am going to!  However, we still get the question "Are they all yours?"  We've had this personalized license plate for a few years now and I love it!  I've seen people behind me when I'm stopped who read it and I can see them point and start laughing.   We've also had these stickers on the back of our van for a few years and we love them! 

We do get a lot of stares when we all go out as a family.  I've had people literally run up to me from across the mall and the parking lot to talk to me.  They have so many questions to ask,  such as; "How do you do laundry?  Is it easy?  How old are they?"  I'm always willing to answer questions but I'm always surprised at people's reactions.  But when you think about it, how many large families do you see out and about?  I go out often and quite honestly I never see large families.  We go out to restaurants, the mall, the movies, the fair and just about anywhere and we never see families with more than four children.  I think people tend to be fascinated with large families, especially with the media attention that has been shown lately to families such as the Duggars and the Gosselins.  We always tell our children that people will look at us differently because there are so many of us and it is a chance to let our light shine for the Lord and to be an example.  That doesn't mean that we are perfect, but we try to keep in mind that people are paying attention to us.  We are so thankful for our large family and we hope that it shows!  Yes, they're all ours!