The CDC announced last week that the US General Fertility Rate has recently hit an all-time low of only 1.6 children per woman of childbearing age. That makes me sad, because I know how much joy children bring to life. The more, the merrier! In fact, as parents of twelve, my husband and I have reaped a lot of blessings from having a large family we could have never anticipated beforehand -- and so have our kids.

- Psalm 127:3-5 - "Behold, children are a gift of the LORD, the fruit of the womb is a reward...."

- 1 Peter 3:15 - “But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.”

- Proverbs 14:4 - “Where no oxen are, the manger is clean, But much increase comes by the strength of the ox.”

- Proverbs 27:17 - “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.”

- 3 John 1:4 - “I have no greater joy than this, to hear of my children walking in the truth.”

- 15 Unexpected Benefits of Big Family Living

- Family Unfriendly by Timothy Carney

- America Tonight - our interview with Al Jazeera

- BBC documentary - you can watch our short clip about halfway down this post

- EP 42 - Traveling with Children

- Kids Eat Free in Tyler, Texas

- Kids Eat Free in the USA

- Age Appropriate Chores for Children

- Teaching Kids to Do Chores Cheerfully

- Who Knew Children's Chores Were So Controversial?

- Bananagrams - a game I mentioned that my family enjoys playing

- Proverbs for Parenting - topical arrangement of Proverbs (similar to what we used for storytime)

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