15/52: National Siblings Day

I saw that it was National Siblings Day last week, and realized I didn't have a picture of all the kids together... At all? Usually I get one at the beginning of the school year but Peter was NOT having it then. They were (mostly) all obliging this time, and nobody cried! Of course John Paul had to keep pulling all those terrible faces (he likes to look at them afterwards when I upload them. Why he can't just make faces into the mirror, I have no idea.).

They wanted a second round of pictures on the mulch pile. ALL OF THEM wanted to take pictures on the mulch pile. Country kids. Then they had to play on the mulch pile. I don't really know why anybody buys toys when instead you could have a giant pile of mulch?

Anyway... I KNOW this series of pictures totally looks like a pregnancy announcement. Let the record show: I took a test the day before taking these pictures and it was definitely negative, so this is NOT an announcement!! It would make a good one though, especially for twins because of those baby dolls in the picture!

I shared this quotation from Pope Saint John Paul II's Letter to Families on Instagram and wanted to share it here as well, because it's so good (and I found it because I wanted to share a shorter quotation that it turns out he never actually said, but found the letter when trying to verify and then obviously had to read it all):

"It is true that for the parents the birth of a child means more work, new financial burdens and further inconveniences, all of which can lead to the temptation not to want another birth. In some social and cultural contexts this temptation can become very strong.
Does this mean that a child is not a gift? That it comes into the world only to take and not to give? These are some of the disturbing questions which men and women today find hard to escape. 

 A child comes to take up room, when it seems that there is less and less room in the world. But is it really true that a child brings nothing to the family and society? Is not every child a "particle" of that common good without which human communities break down and risk extinction? Could this ever really be denied?  

The child becomes a gift to its brothers, sisters, parents and entire family. Its life becomes a gift for the very people who were givers of life and who cannot help but feel its presence, its sharing in their life and its contribution to their common good and to that of the community of the family."