When I was in junior high my dad's mom had a stroke that paralyzed the right side of her body. She and my legally blind and pretty deaf grandpa came to live with us to be cared for by their daughter-in-law. The fact that we had to give up 1/3 of our living space which contained our "rumpus room" was of little concern to me. Two things about this situation made life changing impacts on me.
1. I convinced my friend, Ellie, that we needed to take all our science notes with our left hands on the occasion that we ever had a stroke and would not be able to use our right. We needed to be prepared and since we had to take the most notes in science class we would get the most practice there.
2. Even though I didn't want to get married or have children I decided it would be a necessity. It was obvious to me that I would need to create someone to take care of me in the event that I was ever incapacitated. Incidentally, I also convinced Ellie of this and she has duly given me credit for the existence of her two darling dear boys...
From this you can pretty much surmise my feelings about birth control. I was recently asked how many children Breadwinner and I plan on having. When we married my answer would have been four sounds about right. With that number at least one should end up liking me enough to take care of me in my old age and we would fit comfortably into society's expectations. I also wanted to wait a few years after marriage before adding to our family, but I wanted to be done by the time I was 30. That way I could teach school for a couple years, take some time off to have my kids, and get one with my life by the time I was 40. As I write this I'm not sure if I should laugh or cry at my self-centered thought process!
Our first baby fit the plan to perfection. I went off birth control pills one month and got pregnant the next. She was born a month after I resigned my teaching position when school let out for the year. I was 26. Sixteen months later her sister was born. Our next baby took a little longer to arrive and ironically I was upset as we tried for over a year to get pregnant. I was closing in on 30 when he was born, but since it had taken so long with him I decided it was okay to have another baby even as I had passed my self-imposed age limit. Number 4 arrived a year and a half later. Now we had 2 boys and 2 girls. All had worked out according to plan. Now was the appointed time for Breadwinner to take permanent measures to end our 6 year baby making run.
When I was in kindergarten I failed my hearing test possibly the result of chronic ear infections. I still miss out on things I need to know, once-in-awhile, if I am not paying attention. The Lord used a unique dial to turn up the volume of His plan for our family with what happened next...
-to be continued...
oooo, I love a good sequel. :-)
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