Fall 2011Welcome to the Large Family Living page of Raising Arrows. You don’t have to be a large family to begin living like one. Shortly after the birth of my second child I adopted a large-family mentality and doing so has been one of the best things I ever did for running my household!
So, I welcome you into our home! It’s a little loud, a little crazy, but a whole lot of fun!
If you read nothing else on this page, please read this post:
Blessed by the Number of Children God has Given You
Why Do We Have So Many Children?
Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord,
The fruit of the womb is a reward.
~Psalm 127:4
Our Journey to Trusting God with Our Family Size ~ 4 part series
Note: When I wrote these posts, the word “quiverfull” had not yet been twisted into such an ugly concept. I do not wish to change the permalinks to these posts, but I do feel I must add a disclaimer here. Our family is not part of some religious cult that promotes abusive husbands and oppressed wives. We are simply followers of Christ, living in His Word, desiring to receive whatever blessings He may have in store for us. I pray that rings loud and clear as you read.
~Just for fun~
Top 10 Reasons to Have a Large Family!
What Moms of Many Think About When All is Calm
Schedules & Chores
Binders for Household Management
The One Day Home Blessing
Morning Chores
Weekly Chore List
Table Chores
Our 2011 Daily Schedule
Age Appropriate Chore List
They Are Not My Slaves
The Chore Board
Bath Schedule
Shopping & Meals
One-Store Shopping
Shopping Your Pantry
Serving Meals
Once a Month Shopping series
Lunch for a Crowd
Pregnancy & Babies
My Birthing Journey – VBAC and Back Again
Morning Sickness and getting everything done
Mind Over Belly
Restless Legs
Information on Cloth Diapering
Diastasis Recti from a Mom’s Perspective
Laundry
Laundry By the Room
Storing Hand-Me-Downs
Shelf & Basket Laundry System
Homemade Liquid Laundry Detergent
Other Laundry Detergent Recipes
Tips & Tricks
Large Family Napkins
Large Family Stocking Holder
Teaching Babysitting
Giving Children Their Own Space
Large Family Moving series
Affording Kids series
Trash
The Bell
Large Family Birthdays
What to Pack for a Family Day Trip
Homemade Liquid Hand Soap
Color-Coded Children
Encouragement
Enough of Me to Go Around
Does It Get Easier? – my guest post at Raising Olives
They Think Babies are Cool
The Crossover Point
Living in a Garage with 9 Children
Large Family Books
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What a beautiful website and family!! Thank you for touching my heart with the story of your daughter, Emily. May God continue to bless you. Love from our home in Thailand ; ).
I want to thank you for what you do. I pray for you and your family during your time of need. Thank you for being so transparent. The women you touch are so blessed by your willingness to share your loses and pain. I have been so encouraged here, been inspired here, laughed here and, of course, cried many tears. I have been coming to your blog to read a few times a day since I discovered it because of your wealth of wisdom and knowledge in large families, but also because your love for your family is contagious. I’m not sure, but it’s possible that I could have read nearly every post! Your posts have helped me with our daily, cleaning and homeschool routines which are a HUGE blessing! (I’ve tried scheduling for years and had no idea why they didn’t work for us) You’ve inspired our convictions. My husband and I have a larger than average size family of 4 children. I feel God has been leading us to add to our family. We have been waiting for the Lord’s timing because of certain circumstances. We’ve felt lead to be quiverfull and also to adopt. We’re currently praying about making a decison to move forward very soon. Your blog has been inspiring to me in this area, as well. I could go on and on…but, I just wanted to let you know how very grateful I am! Thank you for continuing in this work:)
Tracy
You have blessed my heart today, Tracy. Thank you.
I am one child out of 10. im the second oldest. I have been homeschooled my hole life untill second semster my sophomore high school year. I am now a senior in high school and am writing a paper on the “Pros and Cons of having a large family”.
my exsperience isnt enough for the paper. ( teach wants more than just information from my family) So im asking, what is your veiw on raiseing a large family? The money problems. and what is your idea on how families could deal with the money issue. if possible can you please reply back before Feb. 4. if not, then its alright i would still like your reply.
Thank you,
Crissy-Lynn Wilson 18 years old
It’s nice to have finally found your blog and be able to continue to know what your families up to rather than having to rely on mutual friends.God bless your family.
I thank you for your post. Me and my husband are trying to make the decision up about me leaving the work force behind. We have five amaing children who I homeschool part time. We both think it would be for the best if I just stayed home with the children full time and let him pull the financial end of things. We are both very religious and he feels that we need to put it all in Gods hands and let him help my husband provide for us. I am so scared to do it that way and I feel like by me not trusting fully in the Lord my family is missing out on so much by having me home fulltime(I also take online college classes). I wish I could just give it up because it pulls so much time from me that I could be giving to my family. I just wish someone else could possible give me there take on this.
We’re pregnant with our 6th and we are so excited to be able to have 6 children! Thanks for your blog. It’s beautiful!
I’m from a family of 5 and love it!! It makes holidays and family get together’s so much fun! Cost is definitely a factor, but if you can afford it, they are great!
I just wanted to say how BLESSED I HAVE BEEN READING YOUR POSTS
I really admired your LOVE FOR CHRIST AND THE TRUE LOVE YOU HAVE FOR YOUR FAMILY. Reading your blog as well as THE MODEST MOM BLOG has also encouraged me to dress modest and read my bible more! The only question that I have is how do I STUDY THE BIBLY ? I want to HEAR GOD AND FEEL HIS PRESENCE. God Bless you for all the lovely words, encouragement and your love of the LORD:) that you bring EACH AND EVERYDAY .
Christina – Bless you! God knows your hunger and thirst for Him, so start simply by asking the Lord to reveal Himself to you in His Word. Then dig in!
Hello;
I just wanted to say that I found your blog tonight from Living to Welcome His Least (www.livingtowelcome.blogspot.com) and it greatly encouraged me after a long day. It’s always nice to know of other large families and see how they do things.
Blessings in Him
Nicole W.
P.S. You are welcome to visit my blog if you have time, I have fallen down on the job though!
Thank you so much for visiting! I will be sure and visit your blog! Love large family blogs too!
I enjoy your blog. Happy mothers day!
I just attended church yesterday for the first time in 3mths, MY HUSBAND WAS A PASTOR AT OUR PREVISIOUS CHURCH BUT SADLY WE HAD TO LEAVE. The church was a non-denomination Christian church,My husband was invited to attend a church by his friend from work. When we went I noticed that all the women wore skirts which made very happy but also curious simply because the church we attended wore whatever they wanted even the women. I started wondering if perhaps the church was PENTOCOSTAL OR APOSTLIC, So today I called and found out that the church IS PENTOCOSTAL !. What I want to know is IS IT WRONG TO ATTEND THIS CHURCH? The reason I ask is because people even the church I used to go to would make not so very nice remarks regarding the PENTOCOSTAL FAITH, AND THE LAST QUESTION IS ARE YOU PENTOCOSTAL IF DON’T MIND ME ASKING?
No, I am not Pentacostal. As with any denomination, you must be certain they are preaching God’s Word and not adding to it or taking away from it. If the preaching is sound, then the denomination is not as important. We aren’t any denomination…just Christ followers and my wearing skirts is a conviction, not a rule.
Amen!
I’m just scared of making the wrong choice
“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” isaiah 41:10
He will lead you where you belong. Also you should pray for those who do speak ill of the pentecosts, its not their place.
I love all the recipes that you have shared. I look forward to makeing some up. I have 2 men in my family and they seem to get grease on thier clothes every time they are outside and it’s hard to get it out of clothes. I’m hopeing this will work for me.
I just wanted to say thank you for the great spiritual advice:)
THRU PRAYER AND TALKING WITH MY HUSBAND WE HAVE DECIDED NOT TO ATTEND THE PENTOCOSTAL CHURCH AND JUST FOLLOW CHRIST! I FEEL SO GREAT AND I THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING.
As a homeschooling mother of 4 with another one on the way, I fully appreciate your blog. I don’t know how many times I would read what you have written and think, “Wow! She thinks like me.” If I hadn’t of miscarried last year this would have been baby number six. Though I don’t know the pain you experienced, I do empathize with your loss. I wanted you to know what a blessing reading your past blogging posts have meant to me. It is sweet to know that there are others walking this path with me. May God continue to bless you on yours.
We just had our 6th, 3 boy and 3 girls. They are 7,6,4,2,1,NB. Happy to have found your website. We enjoy and love every moment with them!
Hi Amy,
Your blog has been so helpful to this mom of 9! I wonder if you know of any books out there that handle large families without the “quiver full” concept being a part of the book. We have adopted all of our children, so the concept of birthcontrol is obviously not a part of our lives or our family
So many of the books posted focus on family planning as a central focus of the book… We homeschool and do many of the other things you discuss, but with my kiddos mostly from foster care we have some “special” issues in our family as well~
We have been searching for over a year now for some direction, and have appreciated your family’s openness! God bless
I’m not remembering any focus on that in Large Family Logistics, but I could be mistaken…it’s been a while since I read it!
Thank you for your trust in GOD and hard work for HIS GLORY!!
Thanks so much for encouraging others of us who have lots of kids!
I’m surprised that you go out of your way to distance yourself from the quiverfull movement, and then post links to a Mary Pride book and “A Full Quiver” – which are both linked to the genesis of the quiverfull movement.
I don’t think, either, that equating quiverfull with a cult or bemoaning the fact that it’s perceived as an “ugly concept” makes sense if you do ascribe to the basic tenets of the movement. You can’t really have it both ways. The quiverfull movement, with its fundamentalist interpretations of the Bible, is inherently sexist and anti-feminist; you may not choose to use those terms, but don’t be surprised if the terms you choose are “twisted” into the mainstream interpretation of your choices.
Having been raised in a quiverfull, homeschooling family of seven children, I know how much hard work it takes; the self-sacrifice you’ve endured; and your otherworldly commitment to God. I’m now atheist (as are most of my sisters) and I plan to do things quite differently in my own family, combining a few useful lessons learned from my chaotic family with other principles that I now live by.
I guess I don’t have a big point, except that I was bothered by your disclaimer. It doesn’t specify what elements of the quiverfull movement you disapprove of, except to simplify it to “abusive husbands and oppressed wives” – which is probably not fair to the well-thought-out criticisms that I’ve come across.
Hello, Natasha. The disclaimer is for the word itself which has become a misrepresentation. And if you will permit me, I am curious as to how you and your sisters came from a “quiverfull, homeschooling family of seven children” to atheism. It is honestly something I would like to understand from your point of view (lest you think I am being patronizing). Feel free to email me at amy at raisingarrows dot net
hi! i just happened to find your blog when i was web searching how to make a daily schedule for large families! i am 18, the 3rd oldest child of 13 kids, ranging in ages from 22 to 15 months. we have homeschooled for my entire life, and it is really neat to find another family out there with the “arrows are a gift from the Lord” kind of mindset! your blog is so neat, thank you for sharing all these tips and ideas!
Nice to “meet” you too, Sarah!
Hello Amy, I have recently found and started to follow your Blog. I have found it to be full of wonderful information and inspiration. I am here seeking some advice though. I am a mother of 3 boys 8,7,4 with some non-threating medical issues. My husband and I have been discussing having another child. But weighing on our minds is the complications of the birth of our last child. Our family thinks we are crazy for even considering this new adventure. Are there any words of wisdome you could offer us in helping to get our family on board? also to put our minds at ease that this is the right path and not a selfish notion for a larger family.
Brandy,
It is certainly a matter of prayer and seeking the Lord. He will give you AND your husband peace about it. Children are such a wonderful blessing. Just focus your heart on Him and try not to worry about what others might say.
Love your site.
Thank you!