How the Agnew 5 Are Really Doing

So, we are now a family of 5.  The new normalcy is settling in.  I’ve posted some precious photos and shared some cute sayings from the boys, but I’ve been asked a lot lately: ‘So, how are you guys really doing?”

Let’s see: we have a newborn over a month old, an almost-4-year-old, and a recently turned 4-year-old.  My wife has the enormous responsibility of managing 3 wild monkeys everyday.  I have a pretty involved job and the responsibility to have energy and drive once I get home to help out.

So, how are we really doing?

Lately, many people, friends and strangers alike, will look at our family and say, “You guys sure have your hands full!”  I think it is often meant as a subtle comment implying that we are crazy for what we have volunteered for.

We do have our hands full — full of blessings.  I know many people who would love to have a precious child, and God has given us 3 at our age.  They are a gift.  And they are 3 very wonderful children.  Yes, we are busy, but we are busy with wonderful things.  While other people find things to make their life busy with, we have decided that we would take the busy road of parenthood.  While most nights I am exhausted by the time I lay my head down, I can’t imagine a more worthy reason to be exhausted than raising children and pointing them to Jesus.

Obadiah and Eli are celebrating their birthdays this month.  They are 14 days a part, and in many ways are inseparable.  They are truly brothers but they are distinctly best friends as well.

Newborns are exhausting even if they are good babies, and yet Gloria has proven to be a great baby.  She sleeps and eats very well.  The majority of the time she is a content baby that doesn’t seem to demand special treatment, and she seems to enjoy those rowdy brothers of hers.  I have a wife who sacrifices to try to make my life better and I try my best to do the same for her.

We are busy.  The new normal can be very tiring at times, but we have also never been so blessed.  Just a reminder today that in our fast-paced culture children are still a blessing and not a curse.  Life does not end when you get married and have a family.  In many ways, it just begins.

Psalm 127:1 Unless the LORD builds the house, 
They labor in vain who build it; 
Unless the LORD guards the city, 
The watchman keeps awake in vain.

2 It is vain for you to rise up early, 
To retire late, 
To eat the bread of painful labors; 
For He gives to His beloved even in his sleep.

3 Behold, children are a gift of the LORD, 
The fruit of the womb is a reward.

4 Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, 
So are the children of one’s youth.

5 How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them; 
They will not be ashamed 
When they speak with their enemies in the gate.

Travis Agnew

Travis Agnew serves as the Lead Pastor of Rocky Creek Church in Greenville, SC. His most recent book is Just (About) Married.