Here we go!  I love that comment!  Doesn't anybody have ten children any more?  A bunch of rabbits indeed!  I am Cherie Logan, a Logan by marriage of course.  Our family crest/shield thingy is...get this...a RABBIT!!!!

No way you say?  Well, let me tell you....

I picked up a book in a genealogy library one day and there it was.  The very small caption read, "The Logan Clan.  In spite of terrible luck the family could never be wiped out because they were so prolific, thus the symbol of the Rabbit."

I was nearly on the floor.    Neil's dad is the youngest of 17 children.  Neil is the third of 8.  Neil is the father of 10...ok, so I'm the mother of 10 as well.  This year Neil's dad would have been grandparents of 43 and great-grandparents of one little girl and one little boy!

I have heard a few negative comments here and there.  I'm 44 and my youngest is 2 1/2 years old.  People very rarely frown at me because I appear so confident that it mainly overwhelms any would-be-attacker.  But there have been a few.

Things like, "What does your husband do for a living?  Oh, a doctor?  Then it is OK."  Which makes me want to paint a clearer picture.  One which shows two faithful people, husband with no job and wife insecure in her new role, getting pregnant on their honeymoon...out of courage, not ignorance.  Those same two people having children while in school, while interning, while opening a practice, while having the practice stolen away in the blink of en eye...in other words...money was never a thought when it came to bringing angels into our home.

Or the comments such as our ignorant state of mind.  Don't we know how it happens?  I laugh and say, "But it is just so much fun!  My sex drive is out-of -this-world while pregnant!"  Hey...if they are going to imply something like that, I might as well make them turn red at the picture and take power back!

As a child-birth educator I was appalled at one particular comment that came with every single non-LDS couple I taught in those early years.  "This baby is planned."  And when the baby wasn't planned it was, "This baby is an accident but wanted."

There is something is inherently wrong with a society in which the arrival of the Lord's children to mortality must be planned every step of the way or guilt seeps into the parents' joy.

It is only in the past two generations that this has even been an issue.  Watch TV.  For 20 years, every time a pregnancy is mentioned there needs to be that moment of prayer to society in which at least one character asks: "What are you, we, I going to do?"  Is the baby wanted?  The underlying questions is, "Do we end the accident."

As long as the societal prayer mentioning choice of ending the pregnancy was said, it becomes OK to DECIDE to have the baby.  If the question is not asked by somebody, sometime...why...that life is invalid.

Aside from my irritation over the issue of planning every life, I meet opposition over our many children with a great deal of humor.  Humor helps us retain power and confidence over any situation.  I also use the philosophy of agreeing with my enemies lest they...whatever.

I find something that I can honestly agree with them right away.  I usually say, "I LOVE having, nursing, raising, teaching a large family and I REALLY LOVE BEDTIME!"  That statement does miracles in bonding one person to another.  No matter how many children somebody has, no matter how deeply they love that child...Bedtime brings a wonderful renewing and peace.  We can both laugh and start talking about family from a common point.  No matter how much a stranger the person was a few minutes ago, now you are comarades!

It is all in my attitude. That is what I have control and stewardship over.  I can't stop others from being curious, vocal, frowning, whatever.  Focusing on their right to know and inquire just feeds the flames.  MY attitude is contagious.  It is my power, my strength, mine.  I decide what my mind tells me about other people's thoughts.

When they attack me, it is a game to come out on top with humor and comaradarie.  It isn't enough for me to put them in their place.  I want to WIN and I do that by having them walk away either awed or with a touch of understanding.

This sounds like a battle plan.  It IS a battle!  We fight Satan on many fronts, but none so powerful as that of family life.  Every person I win over...that wicked one loses just a bit more.