It’s Friday and time to join up with other
Catholic bloggers at Conversion Diary for 7 Quick Takes Friday
- This week I have been writing on the hilarious chaos raising nine kids. So I will give you a few snippets of MEMORIES – the joy of raising a large family.
Large families are hilarious. and their homes even more so.
- First picture a large, 1886, quaint house with all sorts of quirks. A window became a doorway to a hundred year old addition. It must have been some one with an odd sense of humour who cut a 4 ft 10 inch doorway to the baby room into the low wall with a slanting roof. (In the pitch dark, I banged my forehead against that door frame every night for the first month when I walked into the baby’s room at 2:00 am.) Three sets of steps converge on the upstairs landing.
- We welcome all sorts of kids and people to our house because who invites a family of 11 for dinner! We love kids, animals and plants. We will even love you but watch out, do not trip over the dog and please, edge around that blanket fort. It took an hour to make yesterday!
- The decorating theme is early childhood art and it is everywhere. Too many plants add to the sense of colour and an eclectic combination of furniture is very comfortable. Generations of former owner, who were all full-time farmers, believed in 4 inch spikes for building barns as well as hanging pictures.
- You would think having nine children would turn you into a frazzled wreck with a figure like the Pillsbury Dough-boy and a brain gone to mush. People look at me, their eyebrows shoot up, their mouths drop open and they sputter, ”YOU had 9 children??
- This is because I am 5’ 1” and weigh 104 lbs. I was pregnant or nursing for 17 years without a break. I have been pregnant 10 times and I am healthy and happy and I have my BBB back. (That would be my Before Babies Body). I did not diet. 5 DAYS before ovulation I can conceive..almost unheard of.
Melanie Jean Juneau is a petite wife, writer and mother of nine children. When the words "The Joy of Mothering on a Hobby Farm" popped into her head as a subtitle for her short stories it was like an epiphany for her because those few words verbalized her experience living with little people. The very existence of a joyful mother of nine children seems to confound people. Her writing is humorous and heart warming; thoughtful and thought provoking with a strong currant of spirituality running through it. Part of her call and her witness is to write the truth about children, family, marriage and the sacredness of life, especially a life lived in God. My writing is humourous and heart warming/ thoughtful and thought provoking with a strong currant of spirituality running through it. Part of my call and my witness is to write the truth about children, family, marriage and the sacredness of life, especially a life lived in God
Melanie, I’ve been enjoying your posts this past two weeks without comment but now that I have time, I have to say your decorating theme sounds lovely. And I giggled at your “who invites a family of 11 over?” You should post pictures of your fort.
thank-you. I also have been reading YOU
You have a wonderful house and a wonderful family. Yes … I wish I could visit. You seem so friendly and happy.
May God bless you all always.