Every outing for us (especially if I go out alone with my children)never fails to attract attention. Some friendly smiles while others were strange stares...and still others led to interesting conversations and friendships.

Yesterday, I caught an elderly man smiled at me after I almost finished paying at the cashier of a bookshop. In a few moments, I saw the same man smiling at me again in the midst of the busy crowd of the mall. He pointed at my children and counted with his finger one by one, "1,2,3,4"...and then he gave a thumbs up! I smiled back. Ashlynn asked, "Do you know him, mum?" Obviously, I don't. He was one of those whom was delighted to see our little troop. It is not an uncommon gesture. I've got countless queries.

"Are these all yours?" (of, course, or else?)
"How many kids do you have?" (I am wondering if there's really that many to count)
"Huh? You got four!" (So?)
"Wah, so many kids!" (So many???)
"All girls? Oh, one boy."
"You are so little yourself...and you've got so many kids."

So many?! I thought I could still count them with one hand :)
Four - it's already SO MANY in our culture and generation. And to think God commanded us to "be fruitful and multiply". Thinking of the traditional (yet biblical) wishes to be productive when one get married and how genuine that wish is...hmm...I am pretty sure people don't think hard enough nor serious enough the extent of that wish. I've only a handful of well-wishers who really think this is a good and God-idea to be "fruitful and multiply". Should I highlight multiply? Ed says, in order to do that...the least is 4! When one couple has 2 (which is the urban norm), it is only replacement. Not reproduction.

So we are only hitting the minimum quotient.
I am subscribed to a Christian motherhood magazine which is a pro-natural parenting group. I admire their great faith of bringing up a big family of godly children. And I mean BIG. Not 4...but 8, 10, 20...and one particular case I read had 25!! Insane, right? How do you get such a massive number? Biological offsprings plus adoption. Four is certainly a small sum for these families :) Talking of touching lives...surely they have touched them under one roof.