Not expecting this…
March 7th, 2012
New year’s day usually stands for a fresh start…expectations…and new opportunities. It took that to a new level for us this year when on January 1, we found out we were expecting – yes, as in expecting our fifth child. Though that doesn’t really seem like the right term since we very much were NOT expecting this.
Since then, we’ve slowly shared our news with friends and family. We’ve gotten lots of fun questions and reactions, including:
“Come on, when you found out, didn’t you laugh?”
No, let me be perfectly honest. We both sat on the bathroom floor and cried. For two weeks I wouldn’t talk about it. Go ahead and judge…yes, I know every child is a blessing. But understand this – we spent the last two years in a state of “unknown” and we really just felt like we lost control of our great life plan…again. I guess we didn’t learn the “we’re not really in control” lesson through the adoption process. I hope we get it this time.
“Did you always want a big family?”
I remember a conversation we had when my oldest daughter was about 3. We were trying to decide if it would be OK if our oldest was an only child. We really liked our life. Then we decided we probably could handle just one more child, and life would be perfect. We never saw ourselves having lots of kids. But we are finding that there are lots of surprising advantages to having a big family.
“You know God won’t give you more than you can handle.”
I think God over-estimated us. But I hope He proves me wrong.
And my favorite…“How do people with four young children find time to get pregnant?”
No comment.
Here’s what I do know: God has never let us down. I had no idea how we would handle a one and two-year-old last year when we brought home our boys from Ethiopia, but we’ve more than “handled” it. There is no doubt those boys were meant to be Littons. God’s plans have always been bigger than ours. I’m just starting to wonder how BIG they really are…
