While waiting for my name to be called at the doctor's office, there was a reality show playing on TV (in Korean). It was a mom swap: a mother of one preschool girl with a mother of eight children. Of course, they set it up for chaos and conflict, but since I couldn't understand what anyone was saying, I was left to evaluate the situations by observation alone.
Here's what I realized: It may make for funny television, but it's truly unfair.
As a mother of three, I can say that I was not ready to manage three children when I had my first. I was not ready to manage three children even when I had my second. It takes time and adjustment to reset your mind and body for what is required for day-to-day life as a mom when a new kid (or multiples) is added to the family.
I looked at that one mom struggling with eight kids and sympathized with her. I would be similarly scatterbrained if thrown into that home.
People look at me with my three young children (ages 4, 2, and 3 months) and marvel. "Wow, how do you do it?" and "You've got your hands full!" However, they think it's crazy because they have fewer kids--none, or one, or two. It's not as if I was thrown into motherhood with three kids of different ages. Instead, God gave me time to adjust to one, then to two, then to three.
I'm grateful for the grace of God and how He allowed me to ease into motherhood, to prepare to raise three kids close in age. Each step was hard, but each step prepared me for the next. And if I was to have eight children, by the time they all came, I'd be ready!
