Conversion Diary: I laughed, I cried, I nodded vigorously...

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JENNIFER FULWILER
Five years ago I had never once believed in God, not even as a child. All my life I was a content atheist; it was simply obvious to me that God did not exist. I thought that religion and reason were incompatible, and eventually became vocally anti-Christian. In 2005 I began to have doubts about atheism and started this blog to ask questions of believers. Long story short, I blogged my way from lifelong atheism to Catholicism (my husband and I both entered the Catholic Church in 2007). I now write about faith after atheism. Welcome to my blog, I'm glad you're here!

VITALS: I'm 33, have been married for six years, and have four young children: a 5-year-old boy, 3-year-old girl, 2-year-old girl, and another girl born in March 2009.

Recommended Reading (My conversion story through books)

He Leadeth Me

Introduction to the Devout Life

I laughed, I cried, I nodded vigorously...

When I saw this:

(Don't miss their responses at 4min 20sec. H/T to Heidi Jo What Do You Know?)

23 Comments:

Nzie said...: Oh my gosh, we have lived this too! My parents watched this over my shoulder and we agreed we'd heard all of them. The only difference is we are Catholic... but I've met many large Protestant families too!

~Zee, 2nd of 8; December 19, 2008 4:25 PM
mom huebert said...: Oh my goodness. I'm wiping away tears while laughing. Thanks for sharing this.; December 19, 2008 4:29 PM
Jane @ What About Mom? said...: Cute. Who put the baby down?

And another reason I'm glad to be living back in Utah. With our 3 (so far), we're one of the small families. ;); December 19, 2008 4:54 PM
Jessica said...: Wow . . .

I love it.; December 19, 2008 5:48 PM
Ouiz said...: As another mom of 7, let me say that I've been asked EVERY SINGLE ONE of these questions... repeatedly... and then some...; December 19, 2008 9:36 PM
mary ellen said...: So sad that I hear all of this same stuff and I only have 4. I really love the one about "Do you know what causes it?" Well, chances are, I know better than you do!; December 19, 2008 10:13 PM
Michelle said...: I love it! That was great.; December 19, 2008 10:19 PM
Sara said...: I got all that with my 6. Now that they're older and I travel alone sometimes I feel like people with little ones consider me the enemy!; December 20, 2008 9:11 AM
Beth/Mom2TwoVikings said...: As an only child trying to figure out how to manage just TWO (LOL), I'm in awe! God must only gives ya what you can deal with! *wink*; December 20, 2008 9:30 AM
Karen said...: As a family of eight, my DH and I agreed with every single one!

Of course, our favorite response to the "Do you know what causes it?" one is...
"Yes. We're just better at it than most people..."
LOL; December 20, 2008 9:35 AM
Shannon @ Rocks In My Dryer said...: That was hilarious. I only have four, and I've been asked all those same questions! ;); December 20, 2008 9:51 AM
paula k said...: I've been hearing this since I had 3, and now we have our fifth on the way. Unfortunately we hear a lot of this from our own family. I think strangers have been more polite! I'm starting to get more and more outrageous in my replies though, I have a snarky streak...; December 20, 2008 2:26 PM
50s Housewife said...: What a cute song! We have 5 and we've been asked all those questions too.; December 20, 2008 4:44 PM
Misty said...: This is so fun. I found it on another blog just today. We are only working on number two but we want to have a large family and we already get criticized. Especially now with our second on the way everyone asks if we want a boy, assuming that we are done after two. Every time anyone asks how many kids we want to have, etc. I usually give a vague answer and say that we hope for a large family and want to adopt someday. Almost every time I get a look resembling "Oh you poor naive mother- just wait." Actually people say that too. "Just wait, you'll change your mind after two or three." It is amazing and amusing what people feel entitled to say.; December 20, 2008 10:02 PM
Mary@notbefore7 said...: This was great! I posted it on my blog with a thanks to you :) It was quite timely because a few days ago I posted the reactions people were giving me to this fourth pregnancy that weren't all positive, but questioning of my sanity :); December 22, 2008 7:28 AM
pharmgirl said...: I don't care who you are, that's funny right there! Thanks for posting!; December 22, 2008 8:43 AM
Tara Sz. said...: Oh my GOSH - I am number One of Ten and I laughed my head off. This is SO true, except we often heard, "You must be Irish Catholic," which admittedly is true. :) I remember as a kid I didn't understand the stereotype and I was always amazed when people identified us as Irish Catholic. I just figured we looked Irish. Ha.

Thanks for the post Jen...Merry Christmas!; December 22, 2008 9:07 AM
Anonymous said...: I found this through another message board, and this is hilarious! I admit I have only gotten the "you have your hands full" so far, but I expect they will keep coming as our family expands. Thanks for sharing! Melissa, mother to 3 children (5,3,1) plus one more due in May.; December 22, 2008 3:24 PM
eulogos said...: They didn't put in, "why don't you get yourself fixed, so this doesn't keep happening to you" which was said to me when I only had three with the fourth obviously on the way. I stuttered, "But, but, but...I WANT all my children."

Once when I had just had the second, a lady said to me in the grocery store, "Now you have your boy and your girl and you are all done." She didn't even make it a question. Talk about social pressure! I replied, No, I think I will have a baby every 18 months for the next ten years. She turned white and walked away without a word.

And I almost did. (I had nine. The youngest is a college sophomore now. )

Another funny one, by a woman on a bus in Baltimore was "Do all them babies got the same daddy?" I assured her they did. She shook her head in amazement.; December 22, 2008 10:38 PM
Chris said...: My wife and I have four, with our fifth due in February. We are also NFP teachers in Galveston-Houston. The one that always has surprised me is, "We figured it just didn't work."

Little do they know...; December 23, 2008 8:06 AM
lissla lissar said...: That was awesome. Just awesome.

We only have one (so far), and we're already getting, "Are you sure you ever want to do this again?", and "One more, and that's it, right?". Plus, to my Mom, from friends, "I hope you like being a grandma! Lots more coming!"

We're Catholic converts.; December 23, 2008 10:42 AM
cherub said...: We only have four right now and trust me we get the same remarks. There is only 14 month between our two youngest so we really got grief when I was 6 months pregnant pushing 10 mont hold in a stroller while our 3 year old dd walked with us!; December 24, 2008 9:29 PM
Anonymous said...: I'm a mom of 6, and I hear these same ?'s every, single week! I love it! And we are Catholic! This was great!; December 30, 2008 11:10 AM