Just How Full?

It has been brought to my attention that the image of a quiver at the top of my blog actually has 6 arrows lying next to it (thanks Alanna).

I would just like to clarify. If I were younger and healthier and if we were independently wealthy Jared and I would have 6 kids or more if the Lord decided to bless us. The truth is that pregnancy is hard on our family as a whole. Momma's tired, emotional and desperate for the baby.

Jared came home last night and was telling me that for the first time he is actually concerned about the economy. He's worried that we may over the next year suffer from a depression. There have been a lot of "the sky is falling" theories over the years (remember Y2K?) but there are actual rational reasons for concern.

So, are we done with 5. It sure seems like it. We feel strongly about being responsible and recognizing just how many children we can reasonably afford to raise. We are currently talking about preparing for the upcoming year and stocking up on things just in case. It can't be bad to have food on hand regardless of the economy when your family consists of 7 people.

We strongly believe children are a blessing and the more we look at the 4 we have the stronger we feel about adding to our family. I am so thankful that God put it on our hearts to have just one more. We made a difficult decision but feel like the Lord has blessed us in trusting Him. As far as we know our family is complete.

As a side I have to say that when we decided on the name Anneliese several of our friends and family showed great relief that we did not go with Hazel. In response to that my conservative husband said, "It's not like we decided all of a sudden we hated the name. If God decided to bless us with another daughter she would more than likely be Hazel."