The Joys of a Large Family

On May 1, I gave birth to a nine-pound,  ten-ounce baby boy at home in our bathtub. Amazingly, he was born en caul, which means my water never broke. He was the fourth baby to have been born in that tub, and the eighth baby to join our family.

When my husband and I got married, we hadn’t thought much about kids. We had no plans for a large family. Family size wasn’t even a topic on our radar. Our first baby was a total surprise, and we suddenly found ourselves thrown into this parenting gig. But when we do anything, we dive into it 100 percent and give it our all—becoming parents was no different. We welcomed our first child, and once we realized how much joy she had brought into our lives, we knew we would be having more children. We still had no specific “plan” for how many. Since then we have been blessed seven more times. We thoroughly enjoy all of our children for who they are and for what they bring to our family dynamic.

Having eight kids ranging in age from newborn to twelve years old is a lot of fun. The older ones are incredibly helpful and responsible while the little ones are generally entertaining and hysterical to have around. Our house is full of noise and chaos most of the time, but it is fun!

Don’t get me wrong. It isn’t all roses and sunshine around here. No—sometimes we are covered in vomit or other bodily fluids. Sometimes I’m severely tempted to burn the house down, and sometimes every single one of us is in tears. We have days where we are asking ourselves, WHAT HAVE WE DONE? and feel like we are in way over our heads. Having a large family often means that these troubles are multiplied, but of course the hard days are balanced out by the moments of sheer boundless joy (also multiplied!) which truly make us forget all the craziness we’ve gone through with this passel of kiddos.

One of the most frustrating parts of large family life is the rude comments and stares we sometimes receive. Sometimes people say really hurtful things, which happens to every parent, but it seems when you have a large family, people feel they have even more of a license to make comments. On the flip side, there are those kind strangers who say wonderfully encouraging things. Our children are very well-behaved, and people often remark on that. On two separate occasions, anonymous strangers have paid our bill at Cracker Barrel and had our server let us know that it was because they were so impressed by our children. We were overwhelmed with gratitude, not only to the stranger for such a kind, generous, and encouraging gesture; but also to God for blessing us with such extraordinary children!

We believe having so many siblings at home has helped our kids quickly learn to share and be polite. They are kind and generous with each other and with other people. They fall, as we all do, but they work together to help each other. They are a tightly knit group and care deeply for each other, and it makes our hearts soar to watch them love each other and enjoy being together.

We never really considered having a large family “on purpose” but it was obviously God’s plan for us, and we have wholeheartedly embraced it. Most people look at us and think we’re crazy, and maybe we are a little bit, but we wouldn’t trade the overwhelming chaos and joy for all the sanity in the world!

Rebecca James successfully and energetically leads a large team of Jamberry consultants. She performs in the Chattanooga Symphony and in a local trio on the violin, which she began playing at only three years old. She is also a homeschooling mother of eight (yes eight!) bright, beautiful children (no, she isn’t Catholic)! Juggling all of these roles and more, Rebecca wants to continue growing her business while raising her children to be a blessing to others.

Photograph © Emily Lapish Photograph, used with permission