trust.

I want the most and best for my children.

A mind of purity and a heart that loves and follows God.

To help them find the talents and gifts God has blessed them with. But not at the cost of their relationship with God.

I want my children to have joy, health and love, and while these may be found by many people to some degree, I believe that they can only truly be experienced through adherence to God's authority as found in the Bible.

It's my job (and hubby's) to teach, train and protect them from the snares of the world and to lead them to Jesus. Even with all my faults and weaknesses, I am still accountable for my children and their salvation.

I'm also accountable for my convictions. Things that God puts on my heart are put there for a reason-- not to be casually dismissed.

Even in the areas of 'child planning'.

If I can trust God with my life, our home, our church, our finances, I can trust Him with how many children, we should have. It would be silly to trust Him with all that and then not trust Him with perhaps the most important thing-- when to bring a life into the world.

Not everyone believes this and that's ok.

But for me and my home, how can I not follow something which I know to be true deep in my own heart?

And so even with blessing number 9 on his way, my age growing in years, our house being only so big, and all the things the world will tell me....I can trust God and His plan (not mine) for my life.