Her Ninth Child

My grandmother Anna had nine children. She was born in Italy but came to America in the early 1900s and lived most of her life in Newark New Jersey.  

The first child, a son named Louis, was born in 1905 when she was 20 years old. The ninth was born in 1925 when she was 40. She named him Gabriel after her husband. 

For 20 years, she had babies. In between she cared for them, cooked them dinner, washed their clothes, carried them in her arms. Anna taught them her native language of Italian. She never learned English. 

There were no disposable diapers and no paper plates. There were no clothes dryers and no dish washers. The refrigerator she had was called an ice box, which means it was a box with ice. The ice man would come down the street selling ice. The vegetable man and other salesmen could come down the street too selling their products for the neighborhood women to purchase. None of them had cars because none of them drove. 

Preschools did not exist. The vast majority of women did not work so there was no need for day care. Gabriel was sent to school at age 5, knowing only Italian. In the morning he searched for clothes that the younger four brothers all shared. At the end of the day, the five brothers slept in one room. Louis, the oldest, already married, lived in the house too, in an upstairs apartment with his wife. As the older brothers and sisters married, they would take turns in the upstairs apartment, so the cousins would live with their uncles and aunts like siblings. The older daughters would help take care of the babies when they come. The older brothers would fund the household when their father died at age 47. Gabriel was only age four when his father passed. 

In contrast, I waited until age 32 to have my first baby. When I was pregnant the second time at age 34, I was told the baby was at risk because of my advanced age. We stopped at two children. Anna never stopped. She just had children until her body was naturally done. 

What can we say of such things? Only two generations and look how family life has changed! Mothers complain about how hard it is to have children. And it is hard! Anna, on the other hand, considered herself rich in blessings, even as she lived without many of the conveniences we have come to view as essential necessities. 

Her ninth child was my father. That means if she stopped at two like I did, or even four or eight, I would not be here. All of my family: my brother, my niece and her two daughters, my two daughters, and my three grandchildren, would not be here either. It is a legacy she never lived to see, but it is a rich blessing. 

Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from Him.
Children born to a young man are like arrows in a warrior’s hands.
How joyful is the man whose quiver is full of them! (Psalm 127:3-5) 

Our generation has begun to see children as a burden, a curse, an unwanted expense, an inconvenience. Please forgive us, Father God! Open our eyes to the truth that children are Your blessing. Lead us to the ways of Life.