By Judy Folsom
Psalm 127:3 says: “Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb is a reward.”
A reward you say? Yes, a reward! We were always asked the same questions as we filled up a couple of tables at a restaurant or when I shopped for groceries with two carts and several children in, around, and clinging to the sides of the cart. “Are all these yours?” and “Did you plan to have so many?” and my very favorite, “Don’t you know where babies come from?” Let me start by telling you our plan and about the work God did in our lives and hearts.
Our plan was to have my tubes tied after our third child, Denise, our first beautiful daughter. But God said, “That is not my plan.” I did not feel any peace with this decision and so our plan was thwarted. But we did not quit trying to be in charge! We decided that there were a lot of other children that could use our help. Maybe that would do. After all, being foster parents was a good thing! I also started taking a birth control pill which lead my heart to extreme turmoil. God wanted us to be a part of His plan.
The point was, God wanted us to trust Him with our plan. Of course, I had a lot of questions.
What if they come too close for me to give them personal attention? God said, “Their brothers and sister will take up the slack. My grace is sufficient.”
How will we feed and clothe them? God said, “I will take care of your needs.”
When I asked Him about their college, as the world always does, He literally said, “Give Me credit for something!” So when people would ask me those questions I would say, “Not my problem, God’s problem, I am just obeying.”
While God was working with me, answering all my many questions, He was working with Mike through the Word. Mike is a wonderful Bible teacher, so as is his custom, when he is not sure what to do, he goes to the Word. The Lord led him to Psalms 128. He read: “Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine in the very heart of your house, your children like olive plants all around your table. Behold, thus shall the man be blessed who fears the LORD. Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them” (Psalm 128:3-5a).
He definitely wanted to be a blessed man, and though he was not quite sure what a quiver was, he knew that he wanted to be happy. We have since discovered that everyone’s quiver (the container for holding your arrows), is different. Do not stop having children until your quiver is full. There is nothing sadder than a less than full quiver, because you will always be desirous of another. So, I became his fruitful vine, and our children were olive plants all around our table.
When I was expecting our seventh child, Mike and I both felt like God was calling us to a deeper walk of faith in Him. We had some friends that assisted with home births. We approached them about helping us with our own homebirth. Our friends advised us to pray and make sure God was telling us to do this. We prayed until we knew that we knew that this was what we were supposed to do. While our children waited and slept on the floor by my bed and a good friend walked the large hallway praying, Mike delivered our burly little ball player, Caleb.
When I found out I was expecting again, I did not have the same feelings about a home birth. My experience had been wonderful, but something did not feel right about it for this baby. As it turned out, our Abigail, whose name means a father’s joy, and I both needed medical help at the time of the birth. His plan was to have us at the hospital, with doctors and nurses who could care for us. God is so good.
Now fast-forward 23 years. My sweet baby girl is all grown up, and we just celebrated her marriage. The week before the wedding, we were blessed to have 22 of the 32 family members in our home at one time, twelve of which were children. Let me share with you some of the delightful scenes I had the privilege of witnessing.
I saw my husband working with my sons to replace the windows in our house. I watched my son-in-law playing ball with the grandchildren and riding the little ones around on his feet. My daughter–in-law and I came back from shopping for the wedding to find my ex-marine son-in-law, who now works as a bodyguard, painting the toenails of my four granddaughters.
My daughter was busy in the backyard, donned in her ball cap and garden gloves, directing the boys to pick up all the pinecones, branches, and burnable trash to be thrown in the burn pile for the bonfire that night. I saw my son, who has no children, swinging the grandchildren on the rope swing he had made by throwing a rope over a branch, putting a hole in a board, and tying it down to a wheelbarrow full of cement blocks.
Another daughter set up a chair for anyone interested in a haircut, while my daughter-in-law made sandwiches for all the children. I witnessed a daddy changing diapers for any babies nearby that appeared in need of a change. We finished off the night with a huge bonfire and smores for the children, made by my daughter and her husband-to-be.
After it had quieted down and the adults were all enjoying coffee and cobbler, I peeked in to the children’s room to see four children across the bottom bunk and the floor covered with little sleeping bags because they all wanted to be together. And knowing first thing in the morning, they would all be in our bed to say good morning! What pure joy!
And now you know. Yes, they are all mine! And yes, God had a plan. As for where babies come from, yes, I know that too. They are blessings from a good God and, indeed, our heritage and reward.
JUDY FOLSOM
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Update: Mike and Judy have eight grown children and now 20 grandchildren.
