You’re trying to catch up on some sleep on a quiet Saturday morning when you hear the shrill scream of a child, who seems upset with the fact that another child is pointing at him or her, and has done so for the past three minutes. You turn over and hope that they will resolve it without your intervention…but that’s unlikely, given their past.

The screams get louder, and now it’s two children instead of one. A few seconds later, one stops screaming and the other starts crying. You hear the pattern of foot steps running across the hall, and climbing the steps. Finally, the child bursts in your room. Your ‘rest time’ is over. It’s the beginning of another long day of breaking up fights, dealing with disobedience, and cleaning up after the smaller versions of yourself. You’ll try to have patience with the steady streams of “I want” and “Can I have”.

Some days offer a surprise. A change in the mundane. Maybe a trip to the hospital to fix a head injury. Or maybe they’ll all get sick at the exact same time, and you’ll wonder if the projected vomit somehow defies the laws of physics to get into places you didn’t know existed. How about chasing a naked child down the street and wondering where he stashed his clothes and how he’d gotten out of the gate?

At eleven PM, after fighting with them for two hours to stay in their beds, they finally fall asleep. You sit down for a while to enjoy the silence and catch your breath. You finally have enough time to discuss some important matters with your spouse, but both of you are too tired to talk. Finally, you head up to get ready for bed. You lean over the children to kiss them goodnight and your heart melts.

Suddenly, you forget the fights. You can’t remember your frustration. Your ears are no longer ringing. Suddenly you realize how much you love them. You stop asking yourself why you ever thought having children was a good idea. The feeling alone is worth it, and you thank God for giving them to you