Thank you for three lovely questions!!! 😉
1: What advice can you give to a man on how to find and meet women to create a family like yours?
A: The first thing I'd advise is to be a good man. I know that sounds sort of vague but you know how you something when you see it? My husband is a good man and I knew it when I met him. He's strong but respectful, he thinks of his responsibilities before he thinks about having fun, he doesn't say much about his faith but you see it in everything he does, he's better with money than I am, he loves his kids and makes time for all of them, and may God have mercy on anyone who threatens us!
2: How do you make it work financially?
A: The most important thing is we don't have any debt. That's a big deal in our church and it's because you're a slave to someone when you owe them something. They own part of you and if you have to work to pay off a debt then your time belonged to someone else. The other thing is we live within our budget and when Steve makes good money we have money for extras but that's after money is put aside for the future. We also don't buy stuff we can live without like expensive cell phones and TV services and coffee at Starbuck's. It's crazy that some people work low paying jobs and spend HALF their income on cell phones and TV bills!!!! GET RID OF THEM!!
3: Watching any good TV shows?
A: We've been watching old episodes of Columbo and that's been fun because I never saw them before and it's fun to try to figure out how Columbo is going to catch someone! Some of the acting isn't that good but the stories are sometimes so well written and so interesting!
UPDATED with these new questions:
4: Would you want and encourage your daughters to enter into a similar marriage/family situation as you live? What about your sons?
A: The best answer here is to say that Steve's oldest daughters are Stephanie, Lauren, and Hannah. Stephanie and Lauren married two men from the church and they both added to their families when they could. Hannah moved to California and got married to a very nice man and they're not going to add anyone else. All three of them are happy with their choices, we love them all the same, and when the time comes my children will make their own choices and that's what I want for them.
5: And a more personal question - what happens if your wants and needs for sex are strong but so are your sisters - how do you split Steve's time so that you each get your needs met? By the way, I feel it is beautiful the way that you think about sex, that every time there is a chance to make a baby and you totally submit to that. It makes sex such a beautiful and powerful experience.
A: I'm not trying to make a joke about this but one of the nice things for us is we're hardly ever in the mood at the same time! Each of us seems to have different needs when it comes to sex and that helps prevent any problems too. One of us likes it a lot, another one not so often, one could probably live without it, and for myself it's complicated.
I've had some time-outs from sex just so I can get in shape, recover from having babies, and take time for myself and just enjoy being a mom to the kids I already have. But once I say I'm ready and interested it doesn't mean I'm always in the mood but the blessing for me is once I get started the mood usually comes along on its own! To be honest there are also times when the mood doesn't come along but I still enjoy the attention and being close.
You're really right about how the chance you can have a baby makes sex a very beautiful and powerful experience! It's always a very intense feeling and even though I've done it before it never seems to be any less intense than the very first time. In some ways I think it's even more intense because the first time you try for a baby you really don't know all of what you're getting into. But after going through pregnancy, dealing with complications, going through labor, then the sleepless nights, colds, cutting teeth, and toddler years you realize that sex is not something that you do and then it's done but it can be the start of a lifetime of experiences for the whole family and this whole new person you're creating! 💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖
Updated again on 10/20/2020
6: Do you all live in one big sprawling house? Or a collection of separate houses?
I guess it's a small collection at this point. The original ranch house was updated when we bought the place and we planned on it to be used as a guest house. That didn't last long before it was getting used as a house. We also have an old bunkhouse that had one big room and now it's six smaller rooms that the older kids like. It gave them their own space and that's a big deal around here!
