joy of nine9

I am linking up with The Ultimate Blog Party Post under Religious Blogs

Mothering a large family is my calling and my vocation. As a result, I am a conundrum: a rather outmoded sort of woman, ridiculed by modern career women, vilified by the earth’s prophets of doom and sanctified by the religious right. I was the least likely candidate to have a lot of children. I had never even held a baby before my first born.You would think having nine children would have turned me into a frazzled wreck with a figure like the Pillsbury Dough Boy and a brain gone to mush, but I remain quite articulate, with a quirky sense of humour, standing at 5’1” and weighing in at 106 lbs. Not quite a rosy-cheeked, robust, matronly looking mother of a large brood

When the words The Joy of Mothering popped into my head as a sub-title for my short stories, it was like an epiphany for me, because those few words verbalize my experience living with little people. The very existence of a joyful mother of nine children seems to confound people. Embracing an outdated lifestyle on a traditional, small, family farm has been a struggle through confusion, guilt, and even public condemnation to finally reach the point where I can now shout loudly,

“This is my call, this is my vocation, this is my witness to the world!”

My “secular” blog

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 My spirituality is simple and joyful because my kids formed me. I am a child of God, no more and no less, who is slowly grasping the fact that she is loved.

I  converted to Catholicism at 19 years old at university after Mary basically moved into my heart while I had a Protestant brain. If Mary lives in your heart and you have a hunger for the Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist, there is really nowhere else to go but the Catholic Church. I struggled for about ten years to resolve theological issues but I have always treasured Mary’s relationship with me.

.“Prayer is a surge of the heart, a simple look toward heaven, a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy” (St. Therese of Lisieux)