In the June 16, 2007 issue of “Church News” is an adoption story that touched my heart. The Ozair and Rosicler Ribeiro family of Brazil already had three biological children when Ozair, a fireman, helped rescue a premature infant boy who’d been abandoned in a sewage ditch. The baby spent 45 days in the hospital, and Ozair visited him every day and very quickly, he fell in love with the tiny baby. He and his wife, new converts, adopted the infant and named him William. This child, whom they considered an angel straight from Heaven, ultimately paved the way for many, many more adopted children to join the family.

While the Ribeiros had never intended to have such a large family, the... more

When our family vacations, we typically either pay through the nose for large family suites at hotels, or we book two rooms (always hoping for adjacent rooms but rarely getting them) and deal with the inconvenience of having our family and belongings split up.

Last week, however, we stayed in a rental vacation home for the first time while vacationing with my parents and my sisters’ families in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. It was a fantastic experience and is an option that could be a lifesaver for large families like ours. Here are some of the benefits we noted:

1. COST: Where we usually spend around $200 per night for two hotel rooms or a large suite,... more

I came across this news story this morning: Children Bad for Planet

Having large families should be frowned upon as an environmental misdemeanour in the same way as frequent long-haul flights, driving a big car and failing to reuse plastic bags, says a report to be published today by a green think tank.

This scares me. China’s one child policy, for example, is grounded in similar concerns about the negative effects of overpopulation, but I don’t think most people could look at China’s decades-long experiment as evidence of the wisdom of limiting population. On the surface,... more

The Learning Channel is airing a new series called “Kids by the Dozen,” which showcases families with 12 or more children. Several episode air this month, and show times and synopses of the episodes can be found on TLC’s website.

Not only can you watch the series, but if you happen to have 12 or more children, you can be chosen to appear on the show! It would be fantastic to see some large, adoptive LDS families represented. :)

Here are the specifics:

Seeking Families for TLC’s “Kids by the Dozen”

TLC's television series "Kids by the Dozen" is seeking... more

I wish everyone could see that the vast majority of the time, things at our house are happy and fun and not in the least out of control. The wildness we embrace is the intentional kind, the “let-yourself-loose-and-cut-a-rug” kind. Not the “we-can’t-control-these-infernal-hooligans and now-we’re-miserable-and-what-were-we-thinking” kind. I’m continually amazed that people assume our lives must be drudgery and that we must simply be gluttons for punishment. If adopting children made us miserable, believe me – we’d stop! It baffles me that people can’t see that... more

Last night when we called the kids into our room for prayer, everyone was acting a little wild and crazy. OK, they were acting a LOT wild and crazy. No matter what we said or did, no one seemed to be able to settle down and get ready for the prayer, let alone the rest of our bedtime routine. Curtis, my husband, looked like he was getting a little frustrated with the lack of cooperation, so I whispered in Maizie’s ear, “Go tickle Dad.” Before he knew what hit him, he had nine kids dog-piling on top of him and tickling him from every angle. The kids were giggling... more

The world tells us that having a large family isn’t possible to do successfully. Something’s gotta give. Somebody’s gotta come out holding the short end of the stick. There simply isn’t enough time or enough money to raise a large family and do it well, right? Interestingly, or maybe logically - coming at this from the angle I am - a 1998 Ohio State University study yielded results that scientifically counter society’s view that LDS large families suffer due to lack of resources. And I say “LDS large families” specifically because this was true only... more

The second question I mentioned, “Are you able to spend one-on-one time with your kids?” is another one I wonder about. There’s no denying that spending time with your children together and separately is a good thing, but I can’t help thinking that the emphasis on “one-on-one time” and “quality time” stems from the guilt we feel about relying on childcare, and scheduling our children’s extracurricular activities as though they’re little executives. (And please note that I said “we” and am not being critical of moms who work outside the home. I’ve been... more

Let’s take the first question – finances. I think most people would agree that many of our 2007 “needs” would have been constituted “wants” in earlier times. Beyond that, our culture has begun to place importance on things that earlier generations couldn’t have conceived of. A good example, and a pertinent one in our family’s life, is the importance of college funds. Our children have no college funds, at least not yet, and many people we know consider this unthinkable. Our take is that our most important “savings” are our two-year supply of food and... more

And regarding mothers working outside the home, President Hinckley said in 1996:

“I recognize … that there are some women (it has become very many in fact) who have to work to provide for the needs of their families. To you I say, do the very best you can. I hope that if you are employed full-time you are doing it to ensure that basic needs are met and not simply to indulge a taste for an elaborate home, fancy cars, and other luxuries. The greatest job that any mother will ever do will be in nurturing, teaching, lifting, encouraging,... more