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 we’ve made our family the way it is because we – gasp – LIKE it!



Granted, there is work involved – that can’t be denied. Washing the clothes of 11 definitely takes longer than laundry for 4, for example. But in many ways, I think having a large family actually makes many chores easier. After all, many hands make light work, right? ;) I can’t remember the last time I carried in all the groceries by myself, changed all the diapers by myself, bathed the babies by myself, or picked up all the toys by myself. Sure, I’ve had to compromise my standards a bit; an eight-year-old’s (or 38-year-old-who-shall-remain-nameless) vacuum job just won’t be as thorough as mine, but I’ve decided that it’s more important that my kids learn those important skills than having everything perfect (and believe me, that was no easy task for this perfectioniste!) It’s also more important to me to have time for an impromptu game of dodge ball in the basement (Tuesday’s afternoon activity) or snuggling up on the couch to watch a movie (yesterday after school) than doing the storage room reorganization I keep putting off (and which we plan to do while listening to General Conference on Saturday!)

I think our family has struck a pretty good balance between order and fun, and the people who think we’re nuts can just go on thinking whatever they like. As much as it bugs me, I know it really doesn’t matter. They’re the ones who are missing out.

So there.