1.8 percent

I read an article a few days ago, a book review actually, and the article whet my appetite to read the entire book.  (Read the article here, the book is What to Expect When No One's Expecting: America's Coming Demographic Disaster.)

I don't agree with everything the article says, but I really resonate with certain excerpts.

{quote from the article linked above}: It used to be that the elites had more children, but now they noticeably have fewer children than people on the lower end of the social spectrum. In the culture’s eyes, children have gone from being a marker of success to an indicator of failure (72).

{another quote}: The basic reason countries stop having children is because they’ve come to see offspring as a liability rather than a source of hope (175). As Christians, we know better.

{and the quote that grabbed me most}: The percentage of women in America who have five or more children is 1.8 percent (79).

I've actually wondered recently how 'common' it is to have five.  I have few reliable markers.  The local community is so desperately damaged by the one child policy that I ventured into the "too many children" category when I was pregnant with Lydia.

The expat community here is such a narrow slice of the American population that I could never draw conclusions based on my American friends.  Five is hardly "a lot" in our crowd - most all Americans I know have at least three, many have four.  This makes for incredibly lively, hope-filled family gatherings where kids outnumber adults 2:1.  I wouldn't have it any other way.

I do not think that we are all supposed to have lots of kids.  I do not think that families with fewer children made poor choices.  I do not think that what God has for me is what God has for you.

What I know is this:  These five are precious beyond words.

(ack, I have so many more jumbled thoughts on this subject and it's not all ready to show up very clearly on the screen, so after typing and deleting for about ten minutes I'll stop here.)

1.8%

That's a pretty elite group.