Quite honestly, I'm tired of it.
I'm tired of the American dream telling me it's weird to have more than 2 kids.
I'm tired of the American dream saying that somehow our family is not complete unless there's a girl in it.
Don't get me wrong. I get it. People have wants/desires and dreams for their family. And I guess in some sense I was probably that way too at some point in my life. But when we struggled to get pregnant with Brayden, I got to a point where I realized it didn't matter if I had a girl or a boy... either way I was receiving one of the greatest blessings God could ever bestow on me. Either way he or she would be special and perfectly knit for just our family. And if you've ever struggled with infertility, short or long, you know that you get to a point where you are just happy to be able to have a child at all!
I love being a boy mom. It's all I've ever really "seen" myself being. If you know me, you know I'm a bit of a tomboy. I like to wear t-shirts and sweatpants, watch college football, play softball and talk sports statistics with my husband.
I'm not your typical girl.
But I feel like me being that way makes me perfectly suited to be able to parent these rough and tumble boys. For the most part, their boyishness, in all its craziness, rolls off my back. I delight in the football/baseball/basketball talk, the wrestling matches on the floor and the superhero dreams.
So no, I didn't roll my eyes when they told me that I was having another boy. I just laughed.
I laughed because in all honesty, I'm not quite sure I have ever pictured our family any differently than how God has shaped us to become. I laughed because I know it makes my house just a little bit more crazy. And I laughed because in some sense, I welcome the craziness with wide open arms. And now I'm to a point where I wish that the way God built our family to be a family of all boys wouldn't seem to garner such complete dismissal, as if something is broken or not complete.
And so I say to the eye rollers: don't roll your eyes. Rejoice with me that there is a new life. Rejoice with me that God is giving us especially what He knew our family needed. Rejoice with me because, regardless of gender, all children are a blessing.
Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one's youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them!
Psalm 127:3-5
