Bring Back Big Families

An intro to my big family seems in order. I’m going to keep this somewhat brief and somewhat shrouded as I am not one of those parents who is looking to, for lack of a better term, pimp out my kids for the Gram. I’m not like that. Frankly, I despise parents like that. This blog is not about that. At all. It’s about what life is like for me, a simple dad, who gets to be a part of something so much bigger than myself or my family. So, if you’re looking for cute kid videos that went viral and earned the parents lots of views and money, this isn’t the blog for you.

So, with that in mind, and without further ado, my somewhat brief and somewhat shrouded intro to my big family.

My big family journey all started with a seemingly innocuous offhand remark made at my wedding in 2012. The priest who married us, Father George, jokingly remarked during his homily that we had to name our fourth child after him. We both laughed vocally at the comment, but it was God who, naturally, had the last laugh.

When baby number four arrived in 2021, we couldn’t help but honor Father George’s wish and give our fourth child the name George as a middle name. The only problem with that is that when we went back and watched our wedding video, Father George clearly stated that we had to name our FIFTH child after him.

Well, come 2023, Father George’s words echoed loudly in our heads as baby number five entered the picture. Having already used the name George, all we could do was laugh once again at God having the last laugh. He gave us that fifth baby that Father George prophesied about.

Not to be outdone by His servant, God, as He always does, is really upping the ante and getting the definitive, true last laugh as He decided we needed to add one more to our family.

Come May 2025, baby number six will make its way into this world.

Babies one, two, and three were welcomed into our family in 2013, 2016, and 2019. Yes, all five are eleven and under. Yes, we’re slightly crazy, but (and I’m going to talk a lot about my faith in the future because it is a HUGE part of this journey I am on, so if that offends you, you may want to stop reading now) it is only through our combined faith in doing the Lord’s will and submitting ourselves to that that has allowed us to fully embrace what it means to have five (almost six) kids in 2024 America. With every addition, there was a fear factor and lots of “what ifs” bouncing around. But looking back, with each child came an added layer of beauty to our family. Sure, we get the funny looks from people and the disturbing remarks from people, even those within our own family, about “not knowing what birth control is.” But what it boils down to for me and my wife (I won’t speak for her on many things, but I will speak for her on this) is this: we have given ourselves fully over to God’s will. Our answer to the inevitable question of, “Is this the last one?,” was always, and always will be, that it wasn’t really up to us. We participate in the creation of new people. That’s our duty as a married couple. It is up to God to decide how many children we have. We do our part, and He does the rest. And we truly believe that (I’ll talk at length about this later on).

So that’s my family. My wife, my first-born, a daughter, my second, third, fourth, and fifth-born, all sons, and my sixth yet-to-be-born. This is us. This is who we are. We are unashamedly proud of our big family. And I hope you all get to see that on display regularly here in this blog.