When Danny and I dated we talked of how many children we wanted. In general we wanted a big family. I wanted four children about three years apart. And Danny wanted a dozen! (He was partly inspired by the book, Cheaper by the Dozen)

About two years ago Ginny's Sunday school teacher came up to me after class, glanced down at my stomach and asked me if I was expecting. She said in prayer time Ginny said a prayer for a new baby in our family. I had to laugh and explain how Ginny really wants a baby sister.

This morning Danny, Ginny and I were talking about our family size again. I started calculating what it would take for me to "deliver" eight more children to fulfill my husband's desire for a large family. Well, since I'm 38, almost 39 now and my mother really did have her last child at 47!, I would have 8 more years. Danny jokingly said I could have one a year. I said "Yeah, right". Then he said we could just shorten it and I could have a set of triplets, boys, and then a set of quintuplets, girls. Then we would have six boys and six girls in the family. Ginny liked the idea and wanted to start the praying. I told Danny that I don't think so. I know God puts me through struggles in my life to help me grow in unselfish ways but I know He also loves me and my body was not intended for such conditions. I told my husband, here I am at 110 pounds. In the summer when I put in 10 hours of work I come home tired and dizzy from the physical stress it put on my body. My body could not handle such stress. If I had that many babies at once I would have a stretched mark flap of skin that used to be my stomach area that would probably hang to my knees. Then I reemphasized to my husband, "No, I don't think so!"

I still wonder though what the future holds for the definitive number of children in our family because my little girl still prays on a regular basis for twin baby girls.