Blessed

I am blessed with 4 amazing little boys

I regularly go to the store with all 4 boys in tow, they are great little boys at the store. They love helping with grabbing the items we need, they love looking at the toys and books, they love shyly smiling at the other shoppers who are staring our direction.

Yes I said staring, and its true, when you walk into a store, any store, with 4 boys 4 and under you get stares, you cant really avoid it. Especially when you are wearing one if not two, one or two in the shopping cart and one walking, its quite the sight I am sure.

I am glad my boys are still young and dont see the body language that comes with these stares. I am glad they dont really understand what someone means when they say things like "Wow! All boys huh?? You must go crazy!" Or " Are they all yours?..... Were they all planned?" Or "No girls? I'm sorry" (this one stings a bit, not because I want a girl, but because they make is sound so terrible to have all boys, and it s not.) and my favorite, less offensive to me but get it all the time is "Wow, your hands sure are full" I'm glad I can smile and keep walking through the stares. I am glad I can come up with some great answers to these questions, such as "No, not crazy here, just full of excitement" and "Yes they are all mine, and yes they were all planned" and "Boys are just as great as girls, I wouldnt trade them for anything" and "Better full then empty"

This kind of takes a tole on me, seeing people stare and whisper. Answering these questions like I have to defend my family and choices. I have gotten really good at giving my answers, smiling and moving on. Some people ask why I bother to even answer, honestly I cant just ignore them when they are standing next to me in line, and I figure if I give them a good enough response they wont be so judgmental of the next family with multiple young children.

Now recently the number of people out shopping has increased thanks to the holidays and I have prepared my self for twice the amount of stares and questions as I venture off to shop.

Then one day this happened:

After shopping and getting a full load of groceries at the store I stopped at the coffee stand to buy myself a treat on this particular cold fall day. It was early November. As I am ordering my drink I notice some whispering nearby and just turn my head and see a table full or 4 women ranging from mid 20s to probably 70. They are looking my direction so I just give them a smile and continue with my purchase. As I am waiting on my coffee I hear more quiet talking from the table. I just choose to ignore it, I am sure they are talking about me and the boys as it usually comes up in conversations around me while I stand and wait on something. Then the oldest lady at the table says to me, "Excuse me miss, I just want to tell you how wonderful your children are." I look at her, smile and say Thank you. Another lady at the table then says " You are truly blessed, all those boys, I bet your heart is just full of love and joy.", I grow warm and my smile gets bigger, " I am blessed, my heart is always overflowing with love." I tell her...... The conversation continues for about 5 min, these women were truly interested in my children, in awe at their sweetness and my patience. They couldnt stop saying how wonderful they were and how blessed I was. I left the store that day so warm and happy, its not everyday I get that kind of response from those around me.

Fast forward about a month its now December, much more hustling and bustling going on in stores and I tell you what I cannot even count on my fingers AND toes how many times I have been told how blessed I am to have 4 boys!! I get comments on how wonderful my children are, how well behaved they are. It makes me smile, I knew this about my children all along but of course to hear it from others it really helps drown out the negative comments and stares, which I still get every shopping trip.

Just a few days ago I ran into a pregnant woman at the store, she looked at me and smiled, then said "Is it not the most wonderful thing to be a mom to boys?" I smiled back and said " It is, I love every moment, are you expecting a boy?" she smiled and chuckled a little "Yes I am, this is boy number 6." In my head I thought what an amazing woman, she looked beautiful, she was radiant, smiling, so happy. Blessed with 6 boys! "We are the lucky ones aren't we! So blessed, so loved." I told her. It was a wonderful short conversation, I loved seeing someone else so blessed and happy with boys.

On another occasion I was standing in line unloading my cart when a young lady in front of me offered her help to unload my groceries. I thanked her but said I could handle it. She of course insisted she help so I agreed, we sparked up slight conversation, she was in awe of my children. She was young, not yet married but wanted children of her own someday. She ended the conversation with "Thank you so much for showing me how wonderful it can be to have many children, you inspire me, you are amazing."

I cannot say enough to show my gratitude and thankfulness to those few amazing strangers who go out of their way to remind me of my blessings, the ones who smile because they love to see me shopping with all of my children, they smile because we are happy and it shows, they smile because they see love.

So this message is for all moms, No matter how many children you have, boys or girls, you are blessed, you are loved, you are amazing!

Next time you see that family at the store, whether it be a mom or dad or both out shopping with their children in tow, please take just a moment to remind them how great they are doing and how blessed they are. You never know if that is just the pick me up they needed for the day.