In Good Times and In Bad

Growing up, I looooooooved babies.  I was obsessed with babies, always trying to hold any I could get my hands on.  After hearing about my sister's medical school experiences, I dreamed of volunteering in a hospital to hold the babies who were born addicted to substances.  I babysat, worked in a daycare, and talked about how I hoped to have 12 kids one day.  I eventually grew up and met Phil, knew I wanted to have HIS babies, told him about my plans for a dozen kids, which he was cool with (!), and then we got married and started Natural Family Planning. 

Why would we use NFP when we wanted a huge family, you might be asking?  Because I had just graduated with my MBA and didn't have a real job yet and Phil was about to start his Masters Program.  We still knew we wanted lots of babies, but just not quite yet.  It actually bothered me a lot that we couldn't start our family right away, that was the point of marriage, right?  I couldn't wait to become a mom!  We figured we would try to wait a year and then Phil would be finished with his Masters and would be able to get a job. 

If You're Worried About What Your Family is Seeing Online...

...join the club ;)

We don't send our little kids out into the world alone, so why would we send our big kids out into the online world alone?  We have a lot of rules in place in our home for screen time, and make sure screens are only accessible in family living areas, but for every other scenario, we turn to Covenant Eyes for help.  

I've written about why we started using Covenant Eyes here, and it's been an awesome addition for our family safety and holiness goals.  It does cost $15.99 per month for a family subscription, but it buys peace of mind.  Sites that could be dangerous are blocked, and each user's history is tracked and reported weekly to the main account holder(s).  Just knowing that we are all accountable for our online actions is a major win in preventing things like porn addiction.  We are not naive, we read the stats and see the results of teens on screens (we both work in a high school) and we know the dangers.  We have been entrusted these seven souls that we are called to protect and nurture, and Covenant Eyes helps us in this technological world.  

I'll be writing more about this topic later, but for now, if having kids search the internet causes worries for you, just get it.  I really don't think you'll regret it.

It's All About the Children

And since I have seven lovely cherubs, I am linking this family update up with Kelly and her 7 Quick Takes.  Happy Friyay!!

The Catholic School Crew 18-19

Should we go Oldest to Youngest, or Youngest to Oldest?  I'm someone who always lists my kids ages from oldest to youngest (yesterday I heard a mom say her kids were 1, 3 and 4, and thought "I would have said they were 4, 3 and 1") so Oldest to Youngest it is...

I Feel So Bad!!

Since the beginning of this summer, I have not been getting any comments on my posts.  I don't usually get a lot, but ZERO was a little saddening.  I know that the trend in social media has moved away from blogs and onto Instagram and Snapchat.  The feedback there is instantaneous, there are more people to connect with, and the likes can be addictive.  I see why so many former bloggers have closed up blog shop to have a more instant and faster way to share.  I have thought often about just calling it quits here since I was feeling a bit defeated, but then I pulled up my big girl panties and reminded myself that these posts are my family's scrapbooks and I would be sad not to have any Martin Family Moments recorded here.

I just got an email this week from Blogger asking if I wanted to continue using Comment Moderation (where they email you when a comment is left and you can post it or delete the spam) and I chose yes, and all of a sudden I had tons of comments show up ready for moderation.  I read them ALL and I wish I could respond to you all individually, but alas, my time for this is limited.

So I will just say this:  I LOVE YOU!!  

I love you, my faithful readers over the past 11 years, I love you, any new readers who take time out of your day to check in here, I love you, people that comment to agree and disagree, I love you, people who don't comment but I can make smile.  Even if you just come here to see a cute photo of your nephew or niece or grandkids (hello family!) I'm happy you are here.  It makes my heart sing to have this little corner to call our own. 

So Long, Long Weekend

Hi!  Hello, just checking in from the end of a fun and long weekend.  We had a weird start to school last week, full of half days and non-uniform days due to the heat, and tomorrow is already promising another sweltering one, unfortunately.  JP is taking a photography class this year, and brought my camera to my family's Labor Day/September birthday party yesterday and took some great ones....I'm happy to pass on the photography torch.  The kids actually pose for him, whereas for me, it's lots of bribing and eye-rolling to get a good one. 

Ask And You Shall Receive

Right after my post about trying to develop new (and grow older) friendships, God gave me the opportunity to do just that!  We were invited to a big party to celebrate a friend's visit from Alaska, and had a wonderful evening with lots of nice people from our parish.  The next day, we brought a meal to our friends who just had their seventh baby, and watched our children run around and play while sharing in the joys and sacrifices required to having a large family.