We are Family...Come on everybody and sing...

"Mr. W, Why did you want children?"  This was the question asked of my husband today from a student conducting a questionnaire.  It actually stunned him for just a moment.  I don't know that he knew how to respond and I can't exactly blame him.  I don't think I could have come up with much of an answer for that question.  Why do we want children?  Things like passing on our DNA or having someone to take care of us in old age sound kind of silly.  How do you describe to a bored teenager the desperate longing that God put in your heart to hold something so tiny and so fragile.  How do you convey the fact that having children changes you in ways you never could have imagined.  How can an afternoon snuggle on the couch while watching Diego compare to going to a party and spending two hours getting ready?  To be honest...I pondered on that question after my husband shared it.  But then, like a brilliant light being flipped on in the darkness, it became so clear.
I should probably preface my ah-ha moment with a little backstory, though.  For the adoption, we are required to submit updated physicals including tb tests for our kids.  I made the appointment a couple of weeks ago and we were scheduled for this morning.  Right before we left, B threw up.  So, I did what any good mom of four kids with an appointment would do...I grabbed a bucket and we were on our way.  Poor B was a hot mess through the appointment.  But, the doc did get a good look at him and ruled out everything but a yucky stomach virus.  We were in a small 8x8 room with an exam table, sink, 2 chairs, and a cabinet.  In one corner, was the puker..barely able to sit up straight and vomiting at a rate of once per 45 minutes.  In the other corner, my super hyper four-year old, my germ-a-phobe child, and my zoned out on video games child.  The exams took about 2 hours.  Included, for even more fun and excitement than we paid for, were updated vaccinations.  So, after being stuck in a small room trying to manage four kids and not look like an idiot in front of the doctor that is filling out paperwork for my adoption.............I now had two kids crying and one hyperventilating over the upcoming shots.  Before you think I'm a terrible mom...the sick kid got out of all vaccinations.  We finally made it back to school for the older two and back to the couch for the sick one and now it is evening and I have another child clutching a bucket...out of anxiety or illness...not sure yet.  But, since my husband is working tonight, I have had the wonderful pleasure of being with the kids.  What I saw warmed my heart and gave me the answer I was looking for earlier.  I watched my four-year old serve my six year old.  He tried to beat me to the kitchen to get gatorade and crackers for B.  He covered him up with the blanket when B got cold and was an all around sweet little servant.  The older boys tried to help out at bedtime and I realized that I may not have an exact answer to why I wanted to have kids.  They have changed me in so  many ways that I barely remember the girl I was before having them.  But I could bore you for hours about how much i want them...how much I love them...how much they teach me.  They've taught me that even when I feel like I'm at the bottom of the well, there is still more there to give.  They've taught me that my choices really do matter.  They've taught me that in the lowest moments of the day when the weight of life is pressing in...nothing beats family.  We take care of each other, we love each other unconditionally.  Family is a place where you can fart at the dinner table, wear pajamas with rips in them, admit that you got sent to 'refocus' AGAIN at school, and you know you'll be loved the same.  Family is the place where you realize that it really ISN'T about YOU!  And it is the place that unabashedly celebrates YOU!
So, tonight I'm raising my glass of blue gatorade to family!  And to no more vomit!