Quiver Full

In honor of the Duggar family announcing their twentieth pregnancy I am posting a link to a wonderful letter from an ex-Quiverfull mother. I found it a riveting read. Hope you enjoy it.

Holy books are great if you read and comprehend them for the METAPHORS they are. I think the Quiverfull cult is pretty sick in that regard. I'm not concerned with the world's population, honestly. We tend to thin ourselves out fairly well with wars and diseases. I think the Quiverfull movement is sick because of the convenient patriarchal societal expectations set for the women. I have a helluva time virtual schooling my two demanding kids and they get all the attention they could possibly crave from me!! And sometimes I just have to tell them that it's time for Mommy to be alone for a while.

How someone deals with more than four kids is absolutely mind boggling. I only have two and this is with the support of a husband who is not only financially supportive but my own emotional Coach in the 'honey, please don't tear your hair out. I love you. I'd hate to see you with bald spots just because the kids are trying to drive you insane' corner of the ring. He goes to bat for me every day and I don't bow down to him.

Reading that woman's story made me feel quite a bit better about how well I'm holding it together here in our house. I might go a bit foamy-at-the-mouth some afternoons trying to cook dinner, wash clothes, get grading done, play interference between brothers who're trying to provoke a fight over whose friend should come over, etc.... But we survive. And we THRIVE! But you add another kid in the equation here and I'd be needing some pretty hefty tranquilizers. (For me, not the kids.)

I'm not saying that some people can't make magic happen in their house and manage to make raising ten kids look like it's nothing but I do wonder how much Xanax their popping behind that bathroom door a few times a day. And if you're so stressed out how can you tend to your own spiritual needs when you have God's Army waiting to be instructed, potty trained, and tucked into bed at night?