The Blessing of Family Life

The past week has been a fairly turbulent one for our family. The exciting news is that we have a gorgeous newborn baby boy! More on his birth later, but it wasn’t quite the birth we expected and experienced with our other 5 children! I had to stay in hospital for 5 days afterwards. I know this probably isn’t that much in the scheme of things, but it was enough to be a great reality check for us all.

Coming home was amazing. There’s nothing quite like a crazy, stressful, out-of-the-ordinary experience to make you appreciate your normal, boring life! The joy of just being with my husband and kids for starters. I hadn’t realised how much I relied on my husband to filter my feelings and anxieties. Just having him there gives me such a sense of balance and calm. Not to mention his provision and care for our family and for me as I recover. What a blessing it is to have a good marriage!

The first day at home when my husband had to pop into work for a few hours was a revelation when it came to my kids. Moments such as when my 9 year old son did my washing and brought me up toast for breakfast (both of which I asked him to do, but the point is that he was able to do them because he usually does the kids’ washing), when my 11 year old daughter helped sort out where everything needed to be (all the baby stuff was still in random places and needed setting up properly), assisted in lifting and burping the baby and took the 2.5 year old to the toilet, and when my 5 and 7 year olds performed their usual tasks like hanging up washing, wiping and sweeping plus some extra ones… I felt such an incredible sense of confirmation of our choice of lifestyle and an overwhelming realisation of “Now I know what all the work has been for!”

Family and home life is truly a blessing. There really is no place like home, and it is great to be reminded of how blessed one is in the ordinary – sometimes boring – but wonderful and calm world of family and homeschooling life.