My favorite things about living in a big family

I come from a family of 15 kids and I absolutely love it. Yehovah has really blessed me.

Many are often very curious about our big bunch, what it’s like and how we do things. I’m going to share a little bit about what it’s like and my favorite things about living in a big family.

1. There’s always someone to cuddle with. Okay, maybe this one wouldn’t be one of my other siblings’ favorite thing. But I love in the mornings when the little kids first wake up, just holding them and cuddling with them. It’s so nice to let them sit in your lap for a few minutes before getting them ready for the day. Something about those morning snuggles.

2. The noise. It’s nice to have the background noise of kids playing, talking and sometimes yelling. Our house isn’t always noisy, but it always has something going on. Okay, maybe it is pretty noisy, but we have our quieter times. Maybe I’m crazy. But, I’ve found that when I stay at quieter houses for a few days, I get very bored and sleepy because I’m used to having noise and people interacting all around me. I like the noise.

3. There’s always someone home. This one might be weird to some, but I love having people around me. If you know me, I like doing things by myself, but I don’t always like BEING alone. You do your thing over there and I’ll do my thing over here. I like having the company of others. Our family is big enough, that even with many family members running the roads, someone is always home. Even if it is only dad sleeping in his bed because he works nights.

4. Driving for my family. I love driving. Some of my family members don’t have licenses yet and need to be driven around sometimes. I love driving them to different jobs. I work from home now and don’t drive as much as I used to, so any time someone needs a ride, I love to offer. I can talk my siblings ear off if I want because they can’t go anywhere. Most the time I don’t cause I’m more of a listener than a talker. So, they talk my ear off instead. On some occasions, my family would need something from the store for a meal or something and I like to offer to drive to the store.

5. Supper time. One of my favorite parts of the day is when all my family members sit down and eat together. Everyone is home from work. There’s something special about it. We talk about our day, what we learned, and stuff like that. Supper time has always been special to me and I am thankful that my parents value the time we have around our table. (Also, our table is HUGE. It was made by the Amish and seats around 35 people with all its leaves in).

6. Wake up time! This is probably my siblings LEAST favorite part of the day. I am the first one to wake up each day, and so I am expected to wake everyone up at a certain time. Normal days, I just turn on their lights and tell them it’s time to wake up. Sometimes, I like to have a little fun. I sing often (and sometimes shout) songs like “rise and shine, and give God the GLORY, GLORY!” I used to whistle, but now whistling is not allowed in the house anymore (probably because of me). I normally stay a safe distance away from their bed when waking them up, just for my safety. Because, I already know they’re annoyed with me cause I’m waking them up from their sleep, so, why not have a little fun? I have yet to try a musical instrument or music with them.

7. Our communication. My family is a safe place for me. What does that mean? It means, I can always be myself and unwind and spill my thoughts out to my family. We are very honest and open with each other, and that’s one of my favorite things about us. We share what’s going on inside our heads and just communicate with each other openly. You normally know what is going on with each family member if you pay attention, because we are very open with each other about how we deal with our problems and things like that. We are people of course and have our flaws. But for the most part my family communicates with each other in a healthy way.

8. Evening studies. During the evening, my family takes the time to read and discuss the scriptures together. This has always been valuable to me. It’s a time where we share and discuss what we learn and see in scriptures. Everyone who can read has a Bible in front of them, some have study tools like a concordance. Little kids may color or draw while they listen. It’s such an encouraging time and it strengthens my walk with The Father. We study certain passages together each evening and weekly read a passage from the Torah (Law/first five books of the Bible)

9. Family performances We do skits and musicals, sing songs, dance, and different kinds of “performances” in many different occasions. We do them often as a ‘gift’ to someone special to us, like our parents or grandparents. Our sister (who is married now and has a baby) is the one with all the amazing ideas. She is very talented and amazing at getting us together and helping us put together a performance. We have made music videos with her as well. This is a way that she encourages us in our talents to be a blessing to others. I’ll tell you right now, it’s not an easy task with so many little kids sometimes! But my sister is amazing with us all and I love being part of the things she puts together. Now that she is married, she lives all the way in Kansas. So the time we get together and do things like this have become even more special to me, because they don’t happen as often.

10. Many helpers. Our house can messy sometimes, just like any house. But it normally only takes us around 10 minutes to do a pick up of our house when we all work together. Many hands make lighter work. Throughout the day we have quick pickups, but we also have an hour each day when we do a deeper clean up. It’s nice to have many helpers, even though most of them are younger kids. They don’t only help with cleaning but cooking and baking sometimes too. It’s nice to be able to let them learn how to follow directions and measure things with your guidance.

11. Random dance parties. Yes, we have those. Most the time when mom and dad are out getting groceries, we will play some music while we clean the house for their return. But, sometimes, these things turn into us and all the little kids break dancing in the dining room and living room. It happens more often than you might think. Ah, yeah, good times.

12. Spontaneous trips. I love these! They happen often in the warmer seasons. Mom will take a van full of kids to places like a park, to get a yummy treat or even just over to Grandma’s to visit. I used to go on these “trips” a lot more when I was younger, but now that I work, I don’t go as often. I love seeing the kids go though and come home telling me all about what they did and who they saw. They get pretty excited to share about their “adventures” with mom. It’s cute.

13. Built in best friends. I see my family every day. They know me better than anyone else. My siblings and I grew up together. We have many stories and treasured memories. I’ve shared a lot with my siblings. Now that us older ones are growing up and working, we sometimes don’t see each other as much as we’d like. But, we still have that strong bond we formed during our younger years. I hope and pray that the younger kids in our family grow a strong bond like us older kids did. It’s a blessing knowing there are a handful of people there for you. People who are honest with you and love you just as you are. There’s nothing quite like that special bond Yah gives you with your siblings. They know me, and I know them, and we’re stuck with each other forever.

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this! I love writing about things I love and my family is something I greatly treasure.