Big Families...the new Green

I read this article on one of the blogs that I follow...written from a Catholic perspective, which we are not...but funny and interesting.

Got a big family? Then you already know that you’re crazy, a traitor to feminism, and a slave to the pope; you’re neglecting most of your kids and robbing the rest of their childhood; you’re a burden on the system in general, and you probably don’t own a television set.
But wait, there’s more! Don’t forget, you’re also destroying the earth.

Lately, it’s become fashionable for radical environmentalists to denounce large families as irresponsible, even selfish. Maybe you heard the remarks of the chairman of the U.K.’s Sustainable Development Commission, who said that, out of respect for the earth, couples should be legally limited to bearing two “replacement” children.

And yet, if we can get beyond the inflammatory rhetoric, do radical environmentalists have a point? Should we slow down a little? It almost seems like common sense, especially when you’re having one of those days when you do feel a little crowded by the swarms of ravening locusts — uh, I mean, treasured offspring who share your last name.

After all, aren’t Catholics supposed to be good stewards of the earth? Isn’t it true that we “lotsas” are using more than our share of natural resources, burning more than our share of carbon, and just plain taking up too much space?

Probably not. Moms of many already know that the work of caring for seven children is not the same as caring for one child times seven. In some ways, it’s easier. In the same way, many large families actually have a small-er carbon footprint than a typical family with one or two kids. A household of nine is not like a household of three times three. It just doesn’t work that way.

Moreover, when larger families do have an environmentally friendly profile, it often occurs naturally as a result of the family’s large size, not despite it. It’s not the num-bers that count; it’s the lifestyle.

HERE ARE SOME EXAMPLES:

Cars Count

Let’s start with that enormous van we drive — could it be eco-friendly? Sure. It’s certainly not fuel efficient; it’s just that it’s usually parked in the driveway. With eight kids in tow, I leave the house as close to zero times as possible, bringing our weekly mileage to less than half the national average. My husband has a small, fuel-efficient car, which we use if only a few kids are on board.

And how often do we fly? Well, the stewardess is still in therapy from the last time our family boarded a plane together, about eight years ago.

Economy Size

How about electricity? Do nine people use more than three or four? Not necessarily. Six kids playing Dinosaur Wedding do it by the light of a single light bulb, just like one or two kids would. Two or three kids fit in a bathtub at a time. The oven stays on 350 degrees for 45 minutes, no matter how big the meatloaf.

Cozy Quarters

Most large families I know don’t live in energy-hogging gigantic mansions. They live in normal houses, they’re a little crowded, and they have lots of bunk beds. (They do, however, tend to go for big yards, lots of trees, and gardens. Natural wildlife preserves, you might say.)

Reduce and Re-use

Many large families also live with tight budgets. We happily trade a second income for another armful of babies. The quick and easy methods of saving the environment that make the news daily are hardly news to cash-strapped families: Turn down the heat, insulate, avoid anything disposable, buy in bulk, cook from scratch, breastfeed, don’t eat out, don’t waste this, don’t buy that. Turn out the light, close the door, unplug it, wash in cold water, make it do or do without. And if it does not get eaten for dinner, we serve it for lunch.
What a revelation! And so good for the earth.

Make Do

How about consumption of goods? I must admit that my family and many Catholic families I know are almost complete failures as consumers. Our house is mostly furnished, from the couch to the car to the pots and pans and coffee cups, with used goods. We are not, for the most part, consuming new pro-ducts, with all their attendant carbon costs in manufacture and transport. By taking in used things, we’re also preventing an entire houseful of stuff from clogging up the landfills.

Pass It On

Large families tend to buy used clothes, books, and toys, but we hang onto them, passing them down from child to child and even to family. The thermal onesie on my baby today? It started life keeping my nephew and niece warm, then went on to clothe every one of my eight kids so far.

Our family of 10 usually produces only three kitchen-sized bags of trash per week.
If you’re still feeling a little eco-guilt, go ahead and plug your own family’s stats into one of the many carbon calculators available online (try SafeClimate.net). You may be surprised at how “be fruitful and multiply” translates quite naturally into treading lightly on the earth.
According to the first three carbon calculators that Google turned up, my family of 10 consumes and emits less than the national average … the national average, that is, for a family of two. And we were just trying to get through the week.

What the Future Holds

This is all very well, some will say, as long as your many children all live with you in your shoe. You may be very thrifty today, but what about when they all grow up and move out? More people is more people, no matter how you slice it.

For this argument, I have two answers. First is that grown children of large families tend to be what you might call natural conservationists. Children who grow up one of many are likely to have learned that they’ll survive without buying stuff, that itokay to share, that material things come and go, and that, like it or not, we all depend on each other for survival.
So who will I be sending out into the world? A small crowd of perfect environmentalists.
Second, children of families that are open to life also know something much more important, something that rabidly utilitarian environmentalists still don’t seem to realize: A human soul is more than the sum of how many kilowatts he consumes.

Evangelize an Environmentalist

What can we say to people who do not realize that the human family is the very seat of love, and that procreation is the ultimate human imitation of the action of the Holy Trinity?
There is nothing you can say. Satisfy yourself that you’re not being wasteful, and then answer not the fool according to his folly. Love your children, and teach them to love each other; and if you and your brood feel like a sign of contradiction, then that’s a good sign.
The Catholic Church has been teaching this lifestyle for thousands of years. There is no contradiction between loving and caring for the earth and supplying it with inhabitants: We are commanded to do both.

Was it short-sighted when God the Father explained these things to Adam? Was it hyperbole when Christ asked, “What does it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, but suffer the loss of his own soul?”
‘A Great Big Yes’

Our beloved Benedict XVI recently said of big families:

“Their Yes to one another in the patience of the journey and in the strength of the sacrament with which Christ had bound them together, had become a great Yes to themselves, their children, to God the Creator and to the Redeemer, Jesus Christ. Thus, from the witness of these families a wave of joy reached us, not a superficial and scant gaiety that is all too soon dispelled, but a joy that developed also in suffering, a joy that reaches down to the depths and truly redeems man.”

Of course it’s Catholic to be an environmentalist. Of course it’s our job to care for the earth. But even more, it’s our job to remember, and to teach our children, that this world will not last, and to live accordingly.

“All flesh is as grass, and all its glory as the flower of grass; the grass withered, and the flower has fallen — but the word of the Lord endures forever” (Isaiah 40:6).
How will it endure, if there is no one to hear it? Let us answer the No of child-fearing radicals with a joyful and ancient Yes. The world needs big families.

Simcha Fisher enjoys the “green” life with her husband and eight children in New Hampshire.

I recently had my 38th birthday. It was a good day. We had two families over to celebrate with. All together between the three families we had 29 people here for dinner. Believe it or not, my kitchen was clean within the hour of us eating:). Before they left someone had the bright idea that the three of us moms should try out the trampoline. Not really sure that is advisable during pregnancy so we opted for some pictures of us "jumping" on the trampoline.

Encouragement for our daily walk

What you do in your house is worth as much as if you did it up in heaven for our Lord God. We should accustom ourselves to think of our position and work as sacred and well-pleasing to God, not on account of the position and work, but on account of the word and FAITH from which the obedience and the work flow.

Martin Luther

Big brother, little brother...

Easter

Yes, I know that Easter, or Resurrection Sunday, was awhile ago but I am a bit slow on the blogging of late so I am just now getting around to trying to catch up. What we have tried to do in the past is to give the children one large "basket" on the first day of spring and also to dye our eggs that day as well. We feel that most of those kinds of things pertain more to Spring than to Resurrection Sunday. But this year we were traveling on the first day of spring and then once we got home it was time to celebrate B#1's birthday so we did end up doing our "spring" things on Easter.

This year DH and I decided to get the children a trampoline which they have asked for for years now. It took alot of convincing for dad to go for it but we felt it would be something the whole family could use for a long time to come. We did a scavenger hunt for them to find certain letters which would lead them to the hall closet where each child had a Reeses Peanut butter egg along with a very personalized clue that would lead each of them to another letter. They had to put those letters together to spell the hiding place of the gift(trampoline) which ended up being across the road where our spring water comes from. I think they were all pleased with the gift.

The two teams trying to figure out their clues.

B#1 got to be one of the first ones on it.

B#5 & B#6 just love it and spend alot of their free time out there.

Here we are making Resurrection rolls the night before Easter. They are really simple to make and very tasty, just make sure you cook them long enough to get the full effect. You take marshmallows and roll them in melted butter(to illustrate the oil that annointed Jesus) and then in cinnamon and sugar(to illustrate the spices that they used to prepare Jesus for burial), then you wrap the marshmallow with a crescent roll being sure to pinch the edges closed as well as possible. The crescent rolls are supposed to be the tomb where they lay Jesus body. You cook them for about 10 minutes or so. Once they are cooked and cooled some you eat them and when you eat them you get a surprise....the marshmallow(Jesus) isn't there any more! He is risen! You can Google resurrection rolls is you are interested in trying these and would like more details than I have provided.

Hope you had a blessed Resurrectin Sunday...and remember it's not about bunnies at all:)

Where does the time go?

I keep thinking that I will sit down and blog but I just don't know where the time goes. We haven't done too much since coming home from our trip but life is just busy, ya know?

B#1 had a birthday. I can't believe he is 19 years old now!

The girls taught me how to knit so I am working on a blanket for the new baby. It will only be knit stitches since that is all I know how to do right now but it will be a lovely chocolate brown, which is one of my favorite colors, with either a cream satin border or a pink one. Not sure about that part yet.

I have already started school planning for next year. I hope to have most of it planned out before the baby comes in August. I am really trying to keep things much simpler this year and just enjoy reading lots with the children. That is a challenge for me since I am not much of one to read out loud. I have been listening to a couple of CDs by Victoria Botkin that a friend loaned me. She is a veteran homeschooler who has very successfully homeschooled her children. Her two girls have written and published a book so I think the way she schooled works. She did the basics but she spent much time reading all kinds of books with her children....science, history, good fiction etc. So that has encouraged me in my planning. We are starting in Genesis this year so I am looking forward to that. DH and I have been watching some wonderful videos by Ken Ham from Answers in Genesis that I think I will watch with the children this year as well since they are all about creation.

Okay, lets see what else has been going on? Oh, we bought a goat yesterday. We had recently put B#8 on cow milk and it just didn't seem to agree with his tummy so we started buying goat milk from some people we know but it gets quite expensive and time consuming to get it from someone else so we decided to just buy a goat. We should have enough milk left to sell as well and we have a few families who have said they would buy milk from us. So I guess we are back in the goat business again, at least for awhile.

DH has unfortunately been extremely wrapped up in a home problem so I feel that he hasn't really been able to enjoy his time off. We recently found out that some of our property is in a flood zone and that we are required to have flood insurance. Sounds simple enough until you get into the intricacies involved in that and the extreme expense involved. We are still a bit in shock about it and are praying about what the Lord would have us to do in this situation. We would appreciate all your prayers in this time.

Well, other than enjoying a few wonderful sunny days playing outside with the kids on the trampoline we are just sticking close to home.

Sorry that there are no pics this time...just too lazy I guess.

Our Trip

After seeing that B#2 already blogged about our trip, I told her maybe I should just do a post that said "see daughter's blog" but she said I should still write about it since our stories would be different. Well, we shall see about that.

The first day we went to a place in Washington called The Northwest Trek, kind of a zoo of sorts but with mostly Northwest wild animals. The weather was so wonderful for walking through and seeing all the animals. Then we went on a tram ride to see other animals that weren't in cages such as Bison, deer and "reindeer" (their proper name escapes me right now). All in all it was a good day with not so much walking as you would do in a regular zoo, which suits preggo mama just fine!

The first night at the beach house where we stayed was interesting since there were 10 of us in a two bedroom, 1 bathroom house but Praise the Lord there was only one time where I was almost in tears waiting for my turn in the bathroom. Not too bad for a five day trip. Baby was in the room with us so that was quite a transition for the three of us but by then end he was getting used to sleeping there.

We decided to give the little ones a break from the van the next day so we just rode around the island a bit seeing what all was there. We were told from a local store clerk that people come to the island for the sunrises, sunsets, mountains and water which didn't leave a whole lot for us to do with the kids but we did manage to have a picnic at a local state park and then just head back to the beach house for some time on the beach(which is rocky) and some rest.

This in pretty much where baby stays while we are out and about, on big brother's back.

We also visited the "World Famous Uff Da shop", which surprisingly our friends who let us stay in the beach house had never even visited. I can't imagine why!?!

On day three we decided to head to Seattle to go to the Pacific Science center and just see what Seattle was like. After that we decided to take the monorail down to Pike's Place Market. I think the kids were wondering why in the world we wanted to go down there since it was so strange and busy but it was an experience for us all and we got some really yummy doughnuts to eat on the way home.

To tell the truth, mom was really ready to head home on day 4 but after praying for rest and strength, I persevered and made it through to the end. So on day 4 we decided to head north to see the San Juan islands, Friday Harbor in particular. The ferry ride was a very enjoyable hour but unfortunately, by the time we got to Friday Harbor most things were going to be closing for the day and we were pretty much stuck wandering around the shops right near the ferry since we chose not to pay the fee to bring our van on the ferry with us. Our return ferry wasn't scheduled to leave until 7:35 so that left alot of time wandering but the Lord was good...it didn't rain, we were able to find a place to eat that wasn't too fancy and there was a very small coffee shop near the ferry where we were able to spend some time while waiting. Chalk that part of the trip up to another experience for us all.

On our way home we stopped in Olympia to have lunch with a dear friend who I grew up with. What a blessing and surprise it was for us when DH tried to pay for their lunch only to find out that they had already paid for our lunch....all 10 of us!

After lunch, we made two more planned stops before heading home. One was to the World's largest bead store, Ship Wrecked Beads. I am not sure who enjoyed it more, dad or the girls. Then we were off to the Cabela's store...fun for the guys. It was definitely an interesting place.

It was a fun trip, but boy were we glad to be home. It felt like a palace after all that traveling. One more interesting anecdote...on day two while we were exploring the island, we went in to a little kitchen store there. I was admiring this interesting popcorn popper where you don't need any oil to pop it in the microwave, just plain ole good for you popcorn. Well we decided to pass on it, not wanting to spend more money than we should on the trip, but once we got out to our van and started leaving, out comes the store clerk rushing to our van with the popcorn popper in her hands. She wanted us to have it she said. Wasn't that very nice? What a blessing! We are still working on learning how to use it properly.