…that is the question. At least, that is a question that seems to have come up a few times in our house lately–whether or not we’ll have a third kiddo. Partly it is frequently under discussion between Trent and me, and also, Carson chimes in quite a bit about his desires. Fortunately, we are not at all in a crunch time, as we really like the age split between Carson & Sydney, & if we DO decide to “three” then we don’t need to get the ball rolling (so to speak) for quite a while.

The funny thing is, Trent and I always assumed we wanted three kids. Not sure why, just thought that was a good number for us. But now that we have these two…both of us have a surprising feeling of completeness. I think part of it is that we were sure we didn’t want an only child, so that has been solved. And also, for us, it’s been an added joy to experience a boy and a girl. But does that mean we’re done? We honestly don’t know! I’ve been given all kinds of input, from “If you don’t know if you’re done, then you’re NOT done,” to “You should never have more kids than you have hands.” We’re also open to (I wouldn’t even use the phrase “considering” because that would indicate we’ve done some research, which we really haven’t) adoption, but we’ve researched enough to know that there is a huge financial cost, and we’re not sure we can (or choose to?) overcome that. I won’t go into my list of pros and cons of having a family of five(this time–you know it will come up again!) b/c I think many of you know them–either I’ve shared mine or you have your own.

So, here’s how Carson’s mind has been working regarding this issue. This was a conversation we had in the car the other day:

Carson: Mom, when Sydney grows up and we get a baby brother, I don’t want to name him Max anymore. I want to name him Shasta.
Me: Uh, OK. That’s an interesting name. Where did you hear that?
C: I just thinked it up myself.
Me: I like it! But what if we don’t end up having a baby brother?
C: Huh?
Me: What if we just have 2 kids in our family?
C: No! I want a baby brother!
Me: Well, we just don’t know yet how many kids we’re supposed to have in our family. We need to pray about it.
(A few seconds of silence pass.)
C: Mom! There’s a policeman! Ask him. He’ll know how many kids we’re supposed to have in our family.
Me: Oh, honey, I don’t think he knows. He knows things about how fast we’re supposed to go and how to help people, but he doesn’t know this.
C: But who DOES know?
Me: Well, right now, only God knows.
C: Then we need to ask him.

Three days later at breakfast. Carson is the only one sitting at the table, the rest of us are buzzing around with morning business.
Carson: Hey! We need to pray.
Me: Okay. [We both pause and walk over to him for a quick morning prayer.]
Carson, very seriously: Don’t forget. We need to ask Jesus how many kids we’re supposed to have in our family.
Me, smiling: Okay, I won’t forget.

🙂