(Important- please read this message all the way through). This morning I am going to share some big news at the Henderson house with you all. We were planning on keeping it to ourselves a little longer but I decided that there is no time like the present. We have made these announcements enough times that you would think we would be used to it, but I always get so nervous/excited/anxious to “share our news”.

We decided that “Nine is Enough” just was not quite right for us, and soon we will be truly testing the theory of “Cheaper by the Dozen”. Yes, that is right…three more Hendersons. I know it sounds crazy (and admit it feels kind of crazy) but we heard about these three kids... more

“How do you do it?” If I had a dollar for every time I heard that question…well, let’s just say that the financial issues of having a large family wouldn’t be much of an issue at all.

One of my most-used comments is that the only time I feel like we have too many kids is when we are shoe shopping or when they are all throwing up (understandable, right??)

Well, let me add one more to the list. Dentist appointments. ICK. We usually have the office shut down just for us, and they use both hygienists and both dentists and get them all done in about two hours. Fun, fun, fun. But it seems with these sorts of things that the choices are long and painful (spreading them out over lots... more

Happy Spring everybody!!! If you have a calendar you probably have noticed that today is the first day of spring. Depending on where you live, it may not feel like spring quite yet (we are still getting oodles of snow up here in the Rockies), but winter if officially over.

I don’t know about you, but spring is exciting for me. For one, it’s almost my birthday. (March 24th). Birthdays are so much fun when you are a mom. Ok, so I may not get many presents, and I won’t he having swarms of my friends over, but the kids get SO excited about my birthday that it’s hard... more

Happy St. Patrick’s Day everybody! I hope the day brings all of you lots of luck. We love St. Patrick’s Day here at our house. I know that St. Patrick’s Day is not a very popular holiday with most African-American and Asian children, but here in our house, it is.

All nine of my kids got up this morning and put on some green (and were excitedly chatting about who at school would get “pinched” for not wearing green). Mercy got green hair barrettes on her braids and she was even toting around a “Blarney stone” that she made in school. And of course, I didn’t send any of them... more

I love quotes. There is something about a good quote from someone respected (and sometimes even from someone unknown) that is just really, really inspiring. I am a bit of a collector of quotes. I have some hanging around my house, I have a bunch saved on my computer and I have even been known to copy some down out of books and off of movies. You never know where you are going to hear a great quote.

My absolute favorite of all times is, “You must be the change you wish to see in the world,” said by Mahatma Gandhi. If you have read my bio you have already seen this, and I put it on there because if I had to pick a quote that sums up my life, I would like this one to be it. ... more

Well, one of the things about “Life with Nine” is that life is never ever dull. Even on days when we “don’t do anything”, “something” is always going on.

Right now I am glad that spring is on its way, even if it is in name only here in the Rocky Mountains. We still have several feet of snow on the ground, and in the last few weeks our favorite outdoor activities have lead to some injuries.

Three weeks before we left for Addis I took my girls ice-skating. All of my kids got ice skates for Christmas in my attempt to stay away from plastic junk and get a Christmas present that encouraged physical activity and family togetherness (and then my rotten brother sent a Play Station…sigh).

Anyway,... more

Well, if you missed me, sorry! I was out of state yesterday, taking my youngest to multiple doctor appointments. Our children’s hospital is three hours away…so when you tally up 6-7 hours in the car and three doctor appointments all in one day, it makes for one REALLY long day.

And as much as I dislike doctor appointments, I really, really, dislike driving (especially in the dark and the snow), so these days aren’t my favorite. Luckily the snow held off until we got home and the only “critter” on the roads was a really fat and really slow-moving skunk! (Where we live, deer on the roads are a constant).

I do enjoy being in “the big city” and being around a higher level of diversity.... more

Ahhhh, Sunday. The day of rest. Unless of course, you happen to be a mom. In my case, I get half a day of rest. Sundays start early, so I can be showered and up, so we can have breakfast on time and I can oversee everyone getting dressed and do the little ones’ hair. I spend time on Saturday getting church clothes out and ironed and all the kids bathe or shower Saturday night, so there isn’t a whole lot to do.

Yet every Sunday morning that we get to church on time and I look down the (long) pew of which we take up the entire thing, it is a sense of pride to see all of my kids in their “Sunday best” and realize, “Phew, we made it again.” We recently moved into a new town and go to... more

I am trying to keep this blog "informational" and will have lots of resources that hopefully people will find helpful, but I get so many questions on "how I do it", that I figured I would keep a category just of life at home here, so you can get a peek at what life is like at our house. :)

I have to say that I am really, really enjoying this blog. I have been a "blogger" for a while, and when the opportunity came up to host this one, I jumped on it. To be honest, I totally panicked when I got the email that we were "going live" just a few days before we were headed to Ethiopia. I worried that I would be overwhelmed and not be able to do a good job with this and I almost backed out.... more