Ambassadors for Life

I feel a certain pressure when out in public with our children. Whether rational or not, it's there. I need the children to be clean, polite and well behaved. These are of course what every parent - I imagine- desires for their family, but I think that as a large family (I didn't know we were a large family until someone told me we were) who homeschools, it's important that people not perceive me as a tired hag of a mother, so put upon by ill behaved children. It's probably vanity on my part, but I don't want people to think that children are this huge awful burden. In a world where people only see the inconvenience , because let's face it, children are inconvenient to me being the centre of the universe, I wish for people to see the joy and the love that accompanies more children. How much they love each other, how much they look forward to the new baby. How they are making me and my husband better people, with more love to give. It's odd that quite often people react negatively to the idea that we're having our 6th baby. Does this stem from the "me" generation, or is it something deeper, more sinister?
I try not to imagine the day when there are no more babies in our house, because it makes me sad. This is a far cry from the young 18 year old me who wanted no children ever. The thought of being able to co-create with God a new soul is so thrilling and beautiful.
I have been asked if they're all mine, if I know what causes this (my husband's response is a wolfish grin and a hearty "Yes. And we like it."), if they're all from my body, are you done? I must be charitbale in my response because these people just don't understand. But anything I come up with seems so unsatisfactory. I want to soften their hearts to the beauty of new souls, new, fresh thoughts and outlooks. So I try to smile through the punishment of public shopping. So I make sure the children are dressed neatly and that they are polite. Because I am an ambassodor of the Culture of Life. And so are they.