Is our quiver full?

Is our quiver full?  Is yours?  How does one ever truly answer that question with certainty?  I've always been shocked when I hear people say with such finality that they are "done" having children.  Done?  They say it so casually as if they are done having breakfast.  Done?  As if creating life is completely their choice.  I don't know why it still shocks me, when I fully understand that we live in a pro-choice culture that encourages controlling one's own family size through various forms of contraception and permanent sterilization.  But I chuckle when I think of a dear friend of mine back in South Dakota whose mother said she was done having kids after having only 2 boys, so she had her tubes tied.  Ten years or so later, my friend Jody was conceived!  It just goes to show that even though we think we are in control of our fertility, there is Someone else who truly is in control of that department...it's just a question of how much we are willing to fight His will in our lives?

Even among my pro-life, Catholic friends, there is only a small percentage who fully embrace the Church's teaching on being 100% open to life, a teaching which instructs us not only to avoid using contraception, but also to avoid using NFP as natural contraception unless there is a very serious reason for doing so.  In complete transparency, I can't say that my husband and I have followed the Church's teaching perfectly either.  I'm sure there have been times we have avoided conceiving when our only serious reason was serious selfishness.  Following God's way in a very "my-way" society is hard (harder than I ever imagined!), but my husband and I just keep praying and trying to place God's will for our quiver above our own.

I laughed when I first looked at the quiver with the pheasant-feathered arrows that I bought for my husband last Father's Day.  I laughed because I thought that 8 arrows would fill that thing up.  The reality before my eyes was not so.  There is still LOTS of room left in that quiver!!!  I guess I should have bought a smaller quiver!  :)  The thought of filling it with more arrows frightens me, but I trust that God knows my limitations and won't give my husband and I more than we can handle (I do worry that He might be a bit overconfident in my abilities though!).  Right now, these 5 boys on earth and 3 souls in heaven feel like all I can handle...  But God knows me better than I know myself.  He knows that I might need to be stretched (literally!) in order to grow out of my selfishness and bring new souls into the world who will glorify Him and fight for the Kingdom like the mighty arrows referred to in Psalm 127.  So, that was a long-winded answer to my question that I asked at the start.  The short answer would be that I have no idea if our quiver is full, but I know Who knows the answer, and I trust Him to do our family planning. :)