A new one for me

Yesterday I spent four hours volunteering at the Holiday Shop at the kids' school and in between helping the students, I had the chance to meet some moms that I didn't know and who didn't know me. So as moms do, we began to chat about our kids. It so happens that the two moms I was working with each have one child, so their reaction to finding out that we have six kids was the classic: eyes wide open, gasping & exclaiming, "HOW many?" In my usual fashion I began to explain that it's not as hard as it seems because we have such a fantastic support system of family, friends, other foster families, our church family, case workers, school and community members AND because they are all such great kids. The one mom smiled and nodded, but from the other mom I received a response that I hadn't yet encountered...

In the middle of me explaining how thankful we are for the great teachers at our school and how helpful they have been, this mom interrupted me to tell me to "just stop it" and to realize that I, as the mom, was the one totally responsible for my kids. It took a few seconds for me to process what I was hearing and to try to figure out how to respond. This mom seemed really frustrated that I was not taking full credit for raising my kids, OR that I might be expecting them to be shaped and raised by others instead of taking the full burden (and by burden I don't mean something terrible, just a big job)  on myself. Okay, so that processing probably took longer than a few seconds, and admittedly I processed it much more afterward.

My response to the "just stop it" comment was something like: (a few seconds of an awkward pause) "no, really it does take a village and we have been blessed with wonderful support." We three (the other mom stayed during this conversation) smiled sweetly at each other and quickly became distracted with helping some first graders with their holiday shopping.

It is my hope that this mom understood my message of recognition and appreciation for the friends and supports that God has placed in our family's life; and that hopefully, she will experience the same type of love and community in the life of her family.