This was just what my heart needed to hear.  If past history holds true we will be excpecting next month.  Yes we have a new little one grace our home every 16-18 months.  My family is so tired of us having children and have graciously let us know it with some not so subtle hints.  "Aren't you done yet?" being the most popular.  I will admit that I have struggled with this alot this past pregnancy.  I even thought of having a tubal done when this last one was born.  We will most likely do that when it becomes neccesary but I am not having any health problems that would  make it so that I can not.  God does give us a brain and we should use it to determine when it is time to stop but also why should I jump ahead of God's time.  Because I am stressed,  If that is the case then I need to look into my scheduling and what I am trying to do.  It most likely is not that I have to many children but that I am not organized enough.  Am I tired all of the time?  Maybe I need to eat better, or exercise more.  I am not saying we all have to have the same number of children but I am saying we need to let God plan our family for us.  We do not need to take control of this issue.  Leave it in God's hands.  Well I said all of that to say what a blessing this article was to me.  I read it and started to cry.  Yes Lord I want to advance your kingdom and I am willing to fulfill the puropose you have for me.  If I am married that means I am to bear children.  She states it so well in this article.  We are not to seperate life from love.  Oh thank you Dear Father for sending this to me. 

[Mr. Phillips] Your poor wife must be sick of popping out kids? Stop overpopulation! Use birthcontrol for (expletive deleted)! Pitiful. Stop adding “freaks” to our society. Abstain. God would want you to (sic). ___.

Dear _, God bless you. This is Doug’s “poor” wife here writing to assure you that “popping out” kids, though challenging, is among the most glorious gifts that the Lord bestows upon a redeemed woman. Prolific mothers are not “baby machines” (as both Margaret Sanger and some very confused professing Christians), but blessed vessels of life from which the Lord brings eternal souls into this earth and fulfills his own command that man “be fruitful and multiply.”

For a Christian, having babies is not about birthing pains, changing diapers or baking cookies(though it includes all of these). Having babies is about transforming the world forever. This investment will last, not for thirty years, not for my lifetime, but f-o-r-e-v-e-r. The investment is realized on earth and pays dividends for eternity. On earth, we pray that these children will advance the very kingdom of God. But in heaven, the souls of every redeemed child will stand with me throughout eternity before the Lord Jesus. The pressures of today (be they financial, physical, etc.)that taunt Christians to self-consciously distort God’s fruitful purpose for the womb, and to separate life from love, will seem infinitesimally small as we look back upon this whisper of a life with our children beside us in eternity.

My children can have more far reaching implications for society and posterity than anything else I can do. Having babies and training children for Jesus Christ means my life work will last forever. I hurt for you and those sad, misguided souls who would think of prolific motherhood as reducing women to the status of “baby machine.” I refuse to accept the minimizing, selfish, materialistic, and limited vision of womanhood dispensed by the apostles of modernity and relevancy in this generation. My dream is far greater. I reject the options which the world offers. I want something bigger.

Though I have been blessed with seven children who are the delight of my soul, Doug and I fervently pray for more. While I am not sure what you mean by “freaks,” I can assure you it is my goal to populate the world with “fools for Christ” who view children as a blessing, the womb as sacred, and the calling of helpmeet and mother as holy before our Lord Jesus.

I understand that you and I disagree on these points, but I want to let you know that I am glad that your mother gave you life. I don’t know you, but I would never wish that you were not born, nor would I presume that the world would be a better place without you. In fact, I would be happy if perhaps someday we can meet unified in Christ and as friends. And yes, with more babies on our laps.

Sincerely Yours, Beall Phillips

Vision Forum

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What does that all add up to?  Alot of fun.

Two years ago we where given an old mattress.  I say old because it came from a hotel and it was OLD.  But it was king sized and when your Mr. Visionary is 6'7" you need a big mattress.  But lately my back has been hurting and I asked if we could please go back to the newer queen size that we have.  Well he did not want to haul the mattress up stairs so we just laid it on the foyer steps as we do not use that door at all in the winter.  After the bed was all set up again with the queen sized I went and looked at the other mattress on the steps.  Looked like a great slide to me so I sat down and tried it out.  Miss Busy came to see what mama was gigling about and thought she would have a go.  Eventually we all were lined up, six in a row.  We all could go at one time.  We had a blast.  So much fun and for so little time or money.  So often children now days are stripped of the joy of the little things.  We did not need to plug this in.  Nor did it have any bells or whistles attached and yet we had a wonderful time together.  We have fun like this each day.  Just the simple things.  Making paper airplanes,  One day we spent most of the day and all of the scrap paper in the home just trying out different designs.  Which went farther, the longest, the highest.  Could you make an airplane that Miss Busy would not try and eat.  So cheap and so fun.

What have you done today to tie your childrens heartstrings to you?

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My daughter, who is 5, is very close to her Great Grandmother Lois.  And just like the Biblical Lois she has passed on her faith to our children.  My DD spent many nights with her and they always had wonderful times together.  Granny Lo, as she likes to be called, would spend hours just playing with the children and passing on a Godly heritage with out the little ones knowing it.  Granny Lo always has a tape playing either scripture being read or scripture songs.  The children also learned many little tunes that taught Biblical principles without them knowing it.  One goes like this.

I'm a happy, happy helper
and the reasons plain to see.
I love Jesus.
And he loves me.

They sing this as they are cleaning or helping with other tasks.
Another is this

I washed my hands this morning
very clean and white
and gave them both to Jesus
to work for him tonight
Little feet be careful
where you take me to
Anything for Jesus
only let me do.

This is sung as you wash your hands.

Well dear Granny Lo has been in the hospital with heart problems and now she has pneumonia and she only has part of her lungs from previous troubles.  She is in her 80's so we are not sure how much longer she will have with us.  I wanted to prepare my DD for Granny's eventual passing and sat down with her.  What do you say to a child who just loves her Granny and wants to grow up to be like her?  I decided to be very direct and told her Granny is not going to live on this earth forever and she is not feeling very well.  Someday soon she may go to heaven.  My daughter looked at me and had the biggest smile.  "Oh, Granny Lo loves Jesus so much.  She will be so happy to finally meet him and talk with Him."  Oh for the child like spirit.  Such faith and trust in our Dear Heavenly Father.  She then went on and named people from the Bible that Granny would get to talk to.  She was so happy for Granny. We then went on to talk about the people in our family that have gone before Granny Lo.  Granny will get to be with her DH after many years.  She will also get to see some little one's from the family that never took a breath here on earth.  My DD has the sweetest attitude looking at this.  I pray that it will always be this way.  And may more of us look at the passing of a saint in this manner.

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While I was cleaning my room this morning I had Sweet Pea on the bed watching me.  Mr. Bigstuff came in and snuggled up next to her on the bed.  She is at the stage where any attention is rewarded with a smile.  He talked with her for a few moments and then looked at me and said,  She is my friend.  I told him how happy that makes me and went on cleaning.  He looked up again and in a questioning tone of voice said  I'm married to her.  Oh how sweet.  He thinks you marry your friend.  I explained that no he was not married to her but he could still be her friend.  He ran off to play. 

I go to thinking about him and a wife, later on.  I know I should be praying for her and I do but not as often as I should.  I prayed for her, the girl my little boy would one day marry.  What is she doing today.  Is her little mind being prepared to be a mommy and a homemaker.  Hopefully she is already learning to take care of the home.  Setting the table and doing dishes.  Learning to sort laundry.  Does she have a sweet spirit, or is she loud and angry.  Then I thought of where all of this is coming from.  Her mother. 

Oh Dear Father, may I hold her and her parents up to you in prayer.  Her mother is with her guiding her, leading her, training her.   What wisdom and patience a mother needs.  Let us as mothers hold one another up in prayer and keep our children's future mates in prayer often.

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Someday when my children are old enough to
understand the logic that motivates a parent, I
will tell them, as my Mean Mom told me:

I loved you enough . . . to ask where you were
going, with whom, and what time you would be
home.

I loved you enough to be silent and let you
discover that your new best friend was a creep.

I loved you enough to make you go pay for the
bubble gum you had taken and tell the clerk, "I
stole this yesterday and want to pay for it."

I loved you enough to stand over you for two
hours while you cleaned your room, a job that
should have taken 15 minutes.

I loved you enough to let you see anger,
disappointment , and tears in my eyes. Children
must learn that their parents aren't perfect.

I loved you enough to let you assume the
responsibility for your actions even when the
penalties were so harsh they almost broke my
heart .

But most of all, I loved you enough to say
NO when I knew you would hate me for it.

Those were the most difficult battles of all. I'm
glad I won them, because in the end you won, too.

And someday when your children are old enough to
understand the logic that motivates parents, you
will tell them.

Was your Mom mean? I know mine was. We had the
meanest mother in the whole world! While other
kids ate candy for breakfast, we had to have
cereal, eggs, and toast. When others had a Pepsi
and a Twinkie for lunch, we had to eat
sandwiches . And you can guess our mother fixed us
a dinner that was different from what other kids
had, too.

Mother insisted on knowing where we were at all
times. You'd think we were convicts in a prison.

She had to know who our friends were, and what we
were doing with them. She insisted that if we
said we would be gone for an hour, we would be
gone for an hour or less.

We were ashamed to admit it, but she had the
nerve to break the Child Labor Laws by making us
work. We had to wash the dishes, make the beds,
learn to cook, vacuum the floor, do laundry,
empty the trash and all sorts of cruel jobs. I
think she would lie awake at night thinking of
more things for us to do.

She always insisted on us telling the truth, the
whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

By the time we were teenagers, she could read our
minds and had eyes in the back of her head. Then,
life was really tough!

Mother wouldn't let our friends just honk the
horn when they drove up. They had to come up to
the door so she could meet them. While everyone
else could date when they were 12 or 13, we had
to wait until we were 16.

Because of our mother we missed out on lots of
things other kids experienced. None of us have
ever been caught shoplifting, vandalizing
other's property or ever arrested for any crime.
It was all her fault.

Now that we have left home, we are all educated,
honest adults. We are doing our best to be mean
parents just like Mom was.

I think that is what's wrong with the world
today .
It just doesn't have enough mean moms!

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