I've been hearing over and over again about the carbon foot print of a person. Some environmentalists attack large families and call for fewer children to be born in order to decrease this "carbon foot print". Some large families may have a larger foot print per person than smaller families, but I don't see that is the norm. Here is my proof:
Traditionally the more children you have the less money you can afford to spend on each child. This leads to some frugal and yet environmentally friendly behaviors. Here are just a few examples:
*hand-me-down clothes and shoes
*clothe diapers
* the use of reusable plates and cups instead of buying paper or plastic
* not buying individually wrapped grocery items and instead buying in bulk
* not eating out in restaurants (this saves on Styrofoam, plastic utensils, and paper products)
* having three or four children bath together
* All laundry loads are large loads (saves water and electricity)
* using wood burning stoves for heat (because there are enough hands to cut and carry wood)
* large garden to supply veggies (this saves on cost and the amount of cans a family buys)
*Canning ones own veggies and reusing glass jars
*Having a compost pile
*Raising chickens for eggs and then butchering for meat
*Eating up all left overs (with that many mouths to feed someone is going to eat it!)
*All sharing the same TV, radio, DVD player, CD player means less electricity per person
*the use of one vehicle to move 10 people means less gas per person
*make own laundry soap (less plastic containers and waste as well as harmful chemicals) *reusing bikes, scooters and toys
*reusing large yogurt, butter, and other plastic containers before recycling them
*recycling aluminum cans for extra cash
These are just some of the few ways that my family is being "environmentally friendly" just by being frugal. So to all the nay-sayers and environmental whack jobs trying to control the population, back off! My family is doing our part just by being frugal!
We had our solemn reception into the Confraternity of Christian Mother back in January. I am finally posting these few pictures from the party after the induction ceremony. 
The kids who attended the reception, including my little clan. They loved the cake! 
Our tireless President who really has done all the work to get our confraternity started. She is such an inspiration! 
My friend and I afterwards wearing the Our Sorrowful Mother pins presented to us during the reception. What is the Confraternity of Christian Mothers? This is directly from the conference booklet, page 5. "The Confraternity of Christian Mothers has for its object the Christian education of children by truly Christian Mothers. It plans to unite by the observance of its rules and regulations all Christian ladies, married or widowed, who are willing to assist one another to attain this noble purpose. Under the special patronage of the "Mother of Sorrows" the members are encouraged joyously and hopefully to undertake the important task of training and sanctifying the young souls entrusted to their care. They are schooled to edify one another by word and deed, to support one another by fervent prayers and thus become the mainstay of spiritual life within their own family , and a fruitful sources of blessings to the community in which they live. This is the principal aim of all Confraternities..." What is the origin of the Confraternity? This is directly from the conference booklet, pages 3-4. "...It was one of those providential movements of the lay apostolate by which the Holy Spirit so often renews the spirit of the Church of of some group within the Church. It was at a time, about the middle of the last century, when the modern forces undermining family life first began to lift their heads, that the Christian Mothers reacted in a spiritual and spiritualizing movement. It was a movement of self-defense and self-preservation. In various parts of France, and especially in Lille, mothers began to gather to pray with and for one another, and their children, to discuss their problems and to advise one another regarding the Christian rearing of their children. The movement gradually solidified, and on May 1, 1850, the first conference of Christian Mothers was held in Lille, France, under the leadership of Louise Josson de Bilhem, the wife of a court official. In the course of time, the mothers sought and found recognition from the bishop for their growing organization. Once that approval was given, the organization grew with leaps and bounds, throughout France and the neighboring countries, and soon over a million women were enrolled as members."
