![\"wedding\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/chuck-shannon-talbot\/files\/2012\/10\/wedding.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nI also have 7 other blessings\u2014my children.<\/p>\n
Coming from a small family, then meeting Chuck\u2019s large family, I knew that a large family was what I wanted. As we began our married life together we felt that the Lord would have us have 6 children. Less than a year later we were expecting our first blessing. I was very excited to be having a baby but still very young. Just 6 weeks after Elijah Matthew Francis<\/strong><\/font> was born, we headed to Bible school. What an incredible challenge that was for me as a young first time mom. I was so very overwhelmed with all that I had to do as a wife and mother. Those first 6 months were very difficult. Eli was a good baby and eventually we all found a routine. I was also blessed with many experienced mothers around me to give me guidance and direction.<\/p>\n July 1997 July 2012<\/font><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Just 18 months after Eli was born, we welcomed our second blessing, Hala Anne-Marie<\/strong><\/font>. Many have asked about her name. Before I became pregnant with her I started looking at baby names, for whenever we had another one! I came across this name. It means \u201cunexpected gift.\u201d Having anther baby was not unexpected but having a girl as # 2 was totally unexpected. Chuck\u2019s parents have 6 kids. They had to wait until baby #6 to get a baby girl. I figured that I would be just like them. So I figured that if God so blessed us with a little girl before #6, then she would be unexpected. And God gave her to us second! I remember how tiny she was and how much hair she had at birth. Chuck was often teased about how much more hair his daughter had than he did. Hala has had many challenges in her life so far. At 3 1\/2 years old, we learned that she has VCFS, a genetic deletion on chromosome 22. For more information about VCFS, you can check out www.vcfsef.org<\/a> It has been a long journey for her over the last 10 years but what a blessing she has been to our family.<\/p>\n January 1999 August 2012<\/font><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Another 20 months after Hala was born, came Kyle Andrew Paul<\/strong><\/font>. For most of my pregnancy with Kyle I didn\u2019t feel blessed. I felt very overwhelmed with all that was going on in our lives. Being pregnant seemed to just make it worse. I was very excited to be able to have a home birth with Kyle at my parents house though. I thought about how easy Hala\u2019s birth was and thought that it would be just as easy. Well it wasn\u2019t! It was not how I thought it would go. Finally after labouring all day, he was born 1 minute to midnight. Then I began to bleed. It didn\u2019t want to stop. My midwives were doing all they could to get it stopped. They were minutes away from calling an ambulance. In the midst of all this, Chuck called his dad to tell him of Kyle\u2019s birth and also asked him to pray that the bleeding would stop. Moments later the bleeding stopped and we did not have to go to the hospital. The challenges didn\u2019t stop with the birth of Kyle. I found him to be a very unhappy baby. He didn\u2019t sleep well and fussed a lot. Plus I had 2 other kids 3 years old and under. I was exhausted. The next 2 years didn\u2019t seem to get better either. Then just days before the birth of our #4 blessing, I noticed a change in Kyle. He had become a mellow, sweet little boy. Kyle became the most loving, gentle and humorous little boy I knew. He is still that same person but just not so little anymore.<\/p>\n September 2000 August 2012<\/strong><\/font><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Blessing #4 came 2 years after #3, Charlotte May<\/strong><\/font>. She entered our family at a very busy time. We had just learned of Hala having VCFS and we were trying to go to the Philippines in a year\u2019s time. I think for the first few years of Charlotte\u2019s life she was the spoiled baby in the family. She was easy going and quick to learn. She always just went with the flow of the busyness of our lives. As the years have gone on, her easy going nature has caused her to be forgotten. She is so quiet and easy to please that we often don\u2019t hear her in the midst of our noisy family. She is so very smart and has recently been showing her sensitive side.<\/p>\n September 2002 September 2012<\/font><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Blessing #5 arrived 5 years later, Sophia Irene<\/strong><\/font>. Sophia was born while we were in the midst of Tagalog language study. From there we returned to Canada for 9 months and then spent 18 months transitioning into the tribe. Sophia is a creature of habit. All those changes that happened in the first 3 years of her life did not help her or us one bit. Sophia is a feisty, strong willed little girl. I never thought that after 4 kids that we could have one that is so\u2026.challenging. She knows what she wants and lets everyone know it! As time has gone on, she is beginning to mellow, or maybe we are just getting soft in our old age! She is learning to settle faster and learning how to show her love to us so much more. She loves being a big sister to #6. I love watching them play together and become close sisters.<\/p>\n October 2007 October 2012<\/font><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Blessing #6 arrived 2 1\/2 years later, Jenna Lee<\/strong><\/font>. Jenna has been such an easy going little girl from the start. She was happy and content even with all the changes going on in her little world. I remember being surprised at how tiny she was when she was born. With each little girl we had, I had been hoping for a little girl with red hair. Once she was born it appeared that she was going to be blonde like her daddy and the rest of her sisters. She had the least amount of hair of all the girls at birth. And it was\/is very slow growing. As time went on, sure enough, Jenna had\/has red hair! Sometimes it is more red than other times and it is not as red as my hair was as a little girl but no doubt about it, she is a red head!<\/p>\n April 2010 September 2012<\/font><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n At this point we had OUR number! There was a slight sadness saying goodbye to babies in my house and a pregnant belly but I was able to look to the future and think about how many grandbabies I would have on day. I also looked forward to watching my kids grow.<\/p>\n Just as I was about to start potty training our last child, God showed us He had other plans for our family. As time went on after Jenna was born, I would find myself dreaming about the \u201cwhat if\u2019s\u201d of having another child but even with those dreams I found peace and contentment with the 6 blessings I had. I never prayed that God would allow us to have another child. I never talked to anyone about those dreams. How come I was so surprised that God would see those thoughts of mine and chose to BLESS our family again?! First there was shock and then there was sadness. Why was I so sad?! Children are a blessing. For those of you know me, I am a planner. And well this little person didn\u2019t fit MY plan! It appeared to mess up MY plans, our co-workers plans, Chuck\u2019s parents plans, Chuck\u2019s sister\u2019s plans and many others.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n
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