Bunkbeds & Babies

A recent breakfast conversation turned to the topic of babies and siblings. My children quickly began conversing and adding their input on how many more siblings should be welcomed into our home. Reed and I tried to remind them that it really was about how many God chose to send us and not as much on their own personal requested amount.

Quickly, it became about dividing up bedrooms and who would be situated where and how we really only could have one more sister and one more brother so that each of our children now would have a sibling of the same gender. It was interesting to listen how they devised their plan and figured it all out. Jonah and a sibling would stay in their current room, there would be a baby in the 'baby's room' (yes, we still call the one bedroom upstairs by that name since it still holds a crib-in-waiting) and Lily would move to the basement to the bedroom that remains unfinished.

I reminded them that sharing rooms was a possibility and that each room could definitely hold more than one child due to their size. This would allow for more room for more little ones if that was God's plan. Lily then reminded me that 20 children would definitely be WAY too many for our home and wondered if 10 might be pushing it as well. I then reminded her that I may not be able to realistically still birth that many more children in my fertile years.

It was most amazing though when I brought up bedroom arrangements and the possibility of bunkbeds in one larger bedroom in particular. Eyes aglow, they then devised a new plan in which each of them would conveniently be able to sleep on the top bunk of separate bunkbeds and their like gendered siblings could sleep on the bottoms. Suddenly our home had more than enough room for many siblings!

It's funny how even children can limit their prayers by what they think they can handle and what they want, instead of being completely open to what God wants to give them!

How often do we limit God in our prayer requests? Only asking for the bare minimum, instead of expecting great and wondrous miracles? I'm not saying that we should be asking constantly for millionaire status or materialistic means, but sometimes it wouldn't hurt to expect great things from a good and faithful God. I still pray daily for a miracle and that I be healed of anything that is keeping me from becoming pregnant: mentally, emotionally, physically, spiritually, psychologically. It does not mean that I sit back and remain inactive and expect a complete miracle without meeting God half way at least. It just means that I prayerfully let Him do the steering in the right direction and I follow His lead.

And who knows, before I know it I just may have a home filled with babies and bunkbeds!