68. From Grief To Grace: A Mother Of Sixteen On Faith, Family, And The Feminine Genius

As we prepare to celebrate Christmas, please join us in this conversation about Canadian author and children's book illustrator Carissa Douglas: It is a story of how turned a family tragedy into a calling to become a mother of a large family. How did Carissa embrace this noble vocation that's shrouded in much mystery, and sometimes confusion or derision from an anti-Christian world?

Start with a "Yes" and watch your world widen. That’s the heartbeat of our conversation with children’s author, illustrator, and homeschooling mom Carissa Douglas, whose fifteen children (and Carissa lets us in on a surprise in this conversation!) aren’t just a headline but a living testimony to courage, vocation, and trust. We explore how a childhood loss formed a family rooted in hope, how Mother Mary’s Fiat reframes modern fears around motherhood, and how creative work can flourish right in the middle of family life without sacrificing presence.

Carissa shares the origin of "The Little Douglings," a series designed to help children build a real friendship with Jesus in the Eucharist from an early age. As culture grows louder, she chose formation over panic: teaching kids to go directly to Christ so they can withstand the pressures of the culture to abandon faith. We talk about the creative process with toddlers underfoot, the surprising grace of detachment when a Sharpie hits a finished illustration, and how digital tools opened new ways to write and draw while staying close to her kids.

We also lean into big questions many families carry: Is a large family too expensive, too chaotic, too hard? Carissa answers with lived wisdom how it's all rooted in God's grace and His Divine Providence —prudence, a mentality of sharing God's blessings, generosity from our neighbours, and God’s quiet provision that shows up right on time. Beyond logistics, a large family becomes a school of virtue where generosity, work ethic, and other-centeredness take root. For teens, faith becomes adventure, not afterthought, with saints like Padre Pio guiding stories that rival any superhero arc and direct young hearts toward purpose.

If you’re discerning marriage, craving deeper meaning in motherhood, or searching for a way to form children who can withstand the cultural headwinds, this one’s for you. Subscribe, share with a friend who needs courage today, and leave a review to help more listeners find these stories of faith, family, and fearless yes.

Are you in search of faith-filled, Christian books for your teens, tweens or littel ones? You can find Carissa's books filled with beautiful illustrations that she designed and a story that was crafted from her lived experience in her family of 18 here on this website: https://littledouglings.com

They are also available at Sunrise Marian

https://sunrisemarian.com

https://scepterpublishers.org/products/copy-of-little-douglings-series?srsltid=AfmBOoqCZGzZ-PhSAHiQN0oOWHIQ7Wt3bb0ljrqiu7mnDH1FU8UqrkmP

Wishing you and your family a Blessed Christmas and Happy New Year! Please join us next time for the continuation of the conversation with Carissa Douglas about how to pass on the faith to our children, and continued exploration of the feminine genius of

Chapters

• 0:00 A Calling To Motherhood
• 0:48 The Annunciation Reading
• 1:57 Culture, Fear, And Mary’s Yes
• 2:57 Welcome, Prayer, And Intentions
• 5:34 Introducing Carissa And Her Work
• 6:40 Why The Little Douglings Book Series Began
• 9:30 How to raise children in an anti-Christian culture
• 12:15 Making Time To Create With Kids
• 15:35 Detachment, Tech, And Creative Resilience
• 18:12 Faith Roots And A Family Miracle
• 21:15 Loss, Grace, And A Mother’s Heroism
• 24:10 Identity, Mission, And Adventure
• 26:10 From Saints To Superheroes
• 28:00 Vocation To A Large Family
• 30:10 Discernment, Marriage, And Openness To Life
• 33:00 Myths Of Big Families Debunked

Transcript

Carissa Douglas: 0:00

Clip 1: So I had lost my sister at a young age. And that was very instrumental. And miraculous thing happened that ....

Carissa Douglas: 0:05

Clip 2: So I was telling I was telling my aunts and people that I wanted 12 kids since I was a little kid, and they would always kind of laugh and say, "Ha ha, wait till you have one." And I was like, uh, "I I will and then I'll have another." And they'd kind of laugh at it. Most mothers that have come across with large families, I've seen that they they usually are just kind of called to it in a slow way, like with each child that comes, that you know, then God asks them, "Will you accept another?" And and there's that more so that journey with me. I think there was a real understanding that was part of my story, that having a large family is it's so very much wrapped up in my journey to hopefully to sainthood and to Christ and to holiness. And so it was something I was never afraid of.

Sheila Nonato: 0:48

The birth of Jesus foretold: And the Virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you." But she was greatly troubled at the saying and considered in her mind what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to h"er, Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. And behold, your kinswoman Elizabeth, in her old age, has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her, who was called Baron. For with God nothing will be impossible...."

Sheila Nonato: 1:45

And Mary said, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. Let it be to me according to your word." And the angel departed from her. Today's culture has caused women to fear marriage and motherhood. Yet the courageous yes of Mary of Nazareth shows us there is nothing to fear if it is God calling us to that vocation. In today's episode, we will explore the maternal aspect of the feminine genius of Mary and the feminine genius of women. How can women of today embrace their calling to motherhood? Canadian children's author, illustrator, and homeschooling mom Carissa Douglas invites us into the origin story of The Little Douglings, a book series about the adventure of her 15 children as they come to know their faith and Jesus. Let's also hear how God turned a family tragedy into a calling to motherhood of a large family.

Sheila Nonato: 2:47

Thank you for joining us, God bless. Hello and welcome to the Veil in Armour Podcast. This is your host, Sheila Nonato. I'm a stay-at-home mom and a freelance Catholic journalist. Seeking the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the inspiration of Our Lady, I strive to tell stories that inspire, illuminate, and enrich the lives of Catholic women to help them in living out our vocation of raising the next generation of leaders and saints.

Co-Host: 3:17

Please join us every week on the Veil and Armour Podcast, where stories come alive through a journalist's lance and mother's heart.

Sheila Nonato: 3:26

Welcome to the Veil and Armour Podcast, Sisters in Christ. And we have Carissa Douglas, and I'm so excited to have her on. And yes, if you can please start us off with a prayer, Carissa.

Carissa Douglas: 3:37

Yes, of course. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Lord, we ask you to bless us, be sending us your spirit. Send your spirit upon us that um that we will speak only the words you would have us speak, and that it will touch the hearts of those who really need your words, who need your your consolation.

Carissa Douglas: 4:00

We pray for all the moms out there, all the moms who are struggling, all the moms who are seeing a season of of goodness that you and thriving, that you'll just continue to pour out abundant blessings on all mothers. We pray for those especially who perhaps lost babies recently or who are struggling with some infertility too and hopeful for more children or having the blessing of being a mom. We just pray, especially, that you'll just anoint their souls and bless them with uh just a great abundance of hope and love and assure them that you have the perfect future planned for them. In your name, Lord, we pray.

Carissa Douglas: 4:41

Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.

Carissa Douglas: 4:59

And dearest Lady, Our Mother, we ask for your intercession too. You will walk with us, you, the greatest of all mothers, and we pray, Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, amen.

Speaker 4: 5:24

Amen. Yes, absolutely. We also need our Blessed Mother to guide us as we look to the example, to her example, um, of motherhood and womanhood. And so I just wanted to introduce listeners to Carissa Douglas. She is a Scepter Press author of The Little Douglings series. And I highly recommend you go and get it for your little ones, for your teens um and tweens. And she's a Catholic speaker, uh and homeschooling mom of so it was 15, but you have some news for us, Carissa.

Speaker 2: 5:54

We do. We are blessed, and we we are expecting number 16.

Sheila Nonato: 5:57

Oh my goodness, such a blessing, such a blessing. Um, so did you, yeah, did you want to add something? Introduce yourself to our listeners.

Carissa Douglas: 6:07

Yeah, it just um really like my greatest title is "Mom." And that that's really, I guess, probably for all of us, but our greatest title is um the other apostolates or other ventures are all really have come and pour been pouring out of that motherhood. And like even the the children's books that I've been doing were um started when I was young and and felt that there was a bit of a void. There was a bit of um, I had a need for something to feed my children spiritually and help with their formation.

Carissa Douglas: 6:37

And and that's when we created the children's series, the little douglings. Um, I go to Jesus talking about trying to foster a relationship with Christ in the Eucharist and try to build up that friendship for them. Um, I was nervous because I saw a lot of the things that were coming in way back when I my oldest is 22. So when he was little, it was quite a bit of time ago, but it was really a pervasive time in terms of uh the culture wars that um there was a darkness approaching.

Carissa Douglas: 7:06

And I thought, what can we do, Lord? What do we do with this, you know, entering into our schools, entering through various means of activism? How do we counter that? And the answer that I was given is the focus of making sure or ensuring our children form a relationship with him at very young age, so that we are not just the median or not just the one that the go-between, but they learn to go directly to him, start that relationship.

Carissa Douglas: 7:33

Because once they're, once their hand is in his, it doesn't matter what the world throws at them. They belong to him. And and that that assurance came over. So that's when I did the first book, which was like go to Jesus and trying to help children talk to Christ in the Eucharist and and know that he actually is there in a very present way and that they can tell him about everything, just like a very best friend to just pour their hearts to him. And it's really worked. Our children are in our, as I said, young adults now, and all of them so far have a very beautiful relationship with Christ. So yeah, really very much um all of my adventures, all of my apostolates and work have flown from this vocation.

Sheila Nonato: 8:12

That's amazing. And I'm just curious. So your first book, um, were you just a new mother at that time? How did the idea of writing a book and illustrating a book come about?

Carissa Douglas: 8:22

Well, it was uh it was always an outlet for me. I found like even myself in my own journey when I was young, um, images, drawing images of Christ being present in my life was very helpful. So even when I was a child, if I was very sad or scared, I would start to draw a picture of me in that moment, but then um Christ's arms around me or our holy mother, our blessed mother coming and wrapping her veil around us. And and so those images are ones that helped form my own faith. And so I think when I was a young mother, and it was it was a lot of work. I mean, we really we had children very close together. Our first baby was born in 12 months or um, sorry, nine months after our wedding day.

Carissa Douglas: 9:07

And the next one came a year and a day later. It was supposed to be earlier, but he came a bit late. It would have been uh 11 months apart. Um, it was um, it was a really hard, fast entrance into that mommy mode, which is a very consuming life. And um, I think we ended up having six kids in seven years at one point. I think there was just a few years before the next one came. So it just, it was very, it was a very, very busy life.

Carissa Douglas: 9:35

And I found that my way of kind of um keeping myself grounded and also finding an outlet, um, remembering kind of all the gifts that God had given me, I would turn to sketching and drawing. And those are things I could do as the kids were playing or that I could be present to them, but then also find a way to spiritually tap into something that would help keep me anchored. And um that was it. And so then those sketches really started to form into a story. And as I said, like as I saw what we're starting to face in the world, I thought, okay, how can I use this? How can I use this to help my children, but also help other other families? So that's where it came from, yes.

Sheila Nonato: 10:18

Oh, beautiful. And I guess some a lot of moms would want to know, practically speaking, um, how do they, how did you find time to to do this? Were you had older children to sort of babysit the little ones, or how did how did it work? Are you near your mom? Did it help you?

Carissa Douglas: 10:35

So, so that came later. I did we did make sure that um we factored in our decision of where we would live based on what type of support we would have. And so we always lived either close to my husband Patrick's family or my family, um, knowing that what we were doing, this uh this undertaking of a large family business, um, really required a little bit of extra help, especially in the early years. Um, later it actually became much easier. Um, I tell everyone that that having large family is is much like depositing early and living off the interest because later on you really do have these amazing young, you know, teenagers and even young adults, and they just they really learn to love in the way that you've um shown them throughout their young years. And so they they're helpful, they're wonderful. We plus it helps we have 10 daughters, so we have a lot of nurturers in the family, and they're they really are such uh wonderful, wonderful children and they they really help me out a lot. So in terms of finding time earlier on, as I said, I would just look for those moments where either kids would be napping or or playing and I could had to be present in the room anyway. Then it was easy to kind of sketch um or do whatever, whatever projects. Um as technology progressed, it was kind of nice to be able to get into digital art.

Carissa Douglas: 11:59

And so I could, it didn't matter if the kids bumped me or like, you know, grabbed grabbed my device or scribbled, because I could just bloop undo any of those things. So earlier on that wasn't the case. And so um I had to learn a lot of good virtues, I think, that God was trying to teach me, which is a detachment to the work itself. So I I could be working on a project, but kind of in the back of my mind, knowing that, you know, we'll still not have kids and this, this, this might end up, you know, being the victim of a scribble sabotage.

Carissa Douglas: 12:32

Um, that actually happened once. I was um, I went to get the phone and I had been working on an illustration probably for a good, you know, a few hours that I was able to dedicate finally to it. And I left the room to get the phone and came back. And my, I think then three-year-old had was sitting there with a big fat Sharpie, and she had just scribbled all over it. And I just like, I couldn't help it. I'm like, why would you do this? And she's like, I'm I'm I'm helping you. And and of course, like I just I thought, okay, you know what? This is part of it. This is like I can't, of course, my motherhood is first.

Carissa Douglas: 13:09

And so if those lines are there, maybe there's a reason. And and lo and behold, there was a way I could kind of use the the markers and kind of make adjustments or shade it or even paint over. I think I brought out some paints and it worked out, but it was very hard because I I had to learn to be completely detached to this very work that I was pouring myself into. And and I think that's a great thing. And I think it helped me later.

Carissa Douglas: 13:34

But as I said, now it's great because uh there's a lot of technology helps with that. So I can my kids um can be doing their work at the table and I could be typing away and writing a book or working on an illustration and still be present. So I mean God's done a lot of great things with these, even these modern incentives.

Sheila Nonato: 13:52

Yes, amazing. Um, and speaking of working around kids or with kids, um, so my son is here just one second. Yeah, sure. Yeah. Okay. I just have to open something for it. Can you get me a scissor, please? (speaking to Sheila's son)

Sheila Nonato: 14:08

Okay, yeah, sorry. Sorry about that, Thank you. Yeah, you know, I laugh. I love your ingenuity and also just your humility, like, yeah, you know, the paint, you know, whatever I made is not as perfect. And you exercise self-restraint and just said God's gonna make what it is, um, make it better, really. Um, but you know, yeah, I can I guess sometimes for myself, and I'm speaking for myself, is like I can't I don't think I can do something because I don't think it's gonna be perfect, so I don't do it. But as I've learned in motherhood is um you just have to you just have to sometimes you know do what you can, yes, and then just say this is the best I can do and uh I'll offer it to God and um and that's you know, and then just be happy with it because yeah, we just you know, we have other things to do, right? And and I love your story of yeah, just just um also having that heart for the Lord and heart for the Eucharist. Where did you are you a cradle Catholic? Where did you first meet our Lord?

Carissa Douglas: 15:18

So I I was raised Catholic, and um I think the beautiful thing is my my mom had a very strong faith, and uh we were in a situation where um my my dad was, I guess, technically united, but not really, not really, he wasn't really ever practicing anything, and I'm not even sure if he knows much about the United Church now. But um, so it really was my mom who had to carry that. He was he was fine with her raising as Catholic. So, you know, we went to mass and stuff. He didn't come with us, but but he was fine with her doing that.

Carissa Douglas: 15:52

And that's actually it's not an optimal situation because, you know, they as I said, if if I think I've looked at the studies recently and they they see that if the father is not practicing his faith, it doesn't matter how devoted or um how um pious the mother might be, um, oftentimes the percentage is very low in terms of children continuing that faith or even practicing their faith. I think it's something like 80% end up leaving the faith or just not practicing. And so um in my home, there was five of us, and um really a miraculous thing happened that um so I had lost my sister at a young age, and that was very instrumental, and I'll I'll touch back on that. But um of of the children that are living, we are all completely in love with our faith.

Carissa Douglas: 16:41

And and it's a beautiful thing, and it shows that God can do wonderful things, even, you know, statistics aside, there's still hope, there's still a lot of good things that can happen. I think in my case, um, so my little sister was hit by a car when she was only four years old. Um, she was waiting for a bus, and the bus had stopped a little bit further down the road, and she believed it was safe to cross, but the bus was actually just letting traffic go by. And so that she got confused. And so, because of that, um, she lost her life.

Carissa Douglas: 17:14

And when they were still trying to save her life, they brought her to a hospital and it was at Sick Kids, Toronto, so very local. And um, I remember my mom telling me about the doctors, and they were telling her that they could try to put her into surgery, but like she was already had so much internal bleeding that they they knew they knew it wouldn't work, but they would still do that if my mom wanted. And he said, you can choose that option, or you can hold her and just be with her whilst she's still alive. And so she chose that option.

Carissa Douglas: 17:44

And I think what was incredible is she really had this sense of peace that was given to her, really a supernatural grace where God just kind of let her feel his love and his presence, and she was filled even with gratitude because she knew that my little sister had been raised with a faith, and that she she knew the face that she was about to run to. And and that just she said that gave her so much comfort in in the craziest moment, and that it even inspired her to start singing praises to God as my little sister was dying.

Carissa Douglas: 18:20

So she rocked her and sang, and then she asked a request of that, I guess that miracle that my sister would pray for us, that that we would be close to God. And so I think there was kind of a miracle or a special grace that was given to her in that heroic moment um where she displayed just such a beauty in responding to the most crushing, heart-crushing moment, you know? And so I think we were blessed by that. And we were also given a sense throughout, I think, um our lives that that we were being set apart, that God had a purpose for our lives.

Carissa Douglas: 18:52

And so I knew that, like as a mother now, I try to instill that understanding, that identity in each of my children. It's like you are, you're here with a great mission that only you can accomplish. This is something very tailored to you. There's an adventure that God has planned for your life. And if you respond to it, you will have the most beautiful life. It will be hard. You'll have lots of suffering because that's that's the way that the world is right now.

Carissa Douglas: 19:18

But I promise you, like if you say yes to him, like he will set you apart, he will affirm your dignity and he will give you a life that you could never have created on your own or even imagined on your own. And I think um as my children have grown into kind of the teenage years, that's where I was inspired to start writing adventure novels because I'm like, yeah, this, this faith life, it's not dull, it's not boring, it's attractive. It's uh it's an adventure, it's a call to like a mission that taps into every aspect, um, every ability he's given us, like these particular gifts. And he just wants to see us use them and thrive. And so I started the the older series, which is called Doug. Adventures.

Carissa Douglas: 20:01

And for that one, it's um, it taps into the saints. And it uh I thought about all the different superheroes that you know my kids were into when they were younger. And I thought, shh, we got the saints. Come on. Like, we got the saints. We got, we got people by locating, and we got, you know, we got people flying sometimes, Latitame. Like, come on, we got some good ones. So the novels were about a family really fighting for the mission of uh bringing light to the world and being a really pro-life, pro-family beautiful example.

Carissa Douglas: 20:32

And there um somehow they encounter a saint to guide them on their adventure, on their mission. And sometimes they're even able to tap into some of those gifts that the saints have. So the very first novel I did was Padre Pio. And so some of the kids would get to by locate to different areas to help with their mission. And so it ended up being a really fun series. Um, I had really harsh critics though, because I would read the book chapter by chapter as I was reading, as I was writing it to my children.

Carissa Douglas: 21:02

And I just had this like set up beta group right over the end. So they would tell me if they were like, no, that part's boring. And so I'm like, okay, that's a rewrite. Or so it was really fun. But yeah, it's it was a way, another way I could capture that important um idea that we want to instill in our kids, or like well, the truth that they are called to something so much greater than they would kind of create for themselves.

Sheila Nonato: 21:29

Wow, thank you for sharing that story. Um I I just really admire your Mom so much that sort of the the saintliness, the the heroism that she showed, was that what inspired you to, you know, on your own, I guess, call to become a mother? Or what what sort of inspired you to seek out that vocation?

Carissa Douglas: 21:51

So it's it's very interesting for me because I think God really placed it on my heart at a very young age. So I was telling, I was telling my aunts and people that I wanted 12 kids since I was a little kid, and they would always kind of laugh and say, ha ha, wait till you have one. And and I was like, I I will, and then I'll have another. And this makes me made kind of laugh at it. Um, and most mothers that I've come across with large families, I've seen that they they usually are just kind of called to it in a slow way, like with each child that comes, that you know, then God asks them, will you accept another?

Carissa Douglas: 22:23

A nd and there's that more so that journey. Um, with me, I think, I think there was a real um understanding that was part of my story, that it having a large family is um, it's so very much wrapped up in in my journey um to hopefully to sainthood and to Christ and to holiness. And so it was something I was never afraid of. And in fact, it was so funny because when I when I met my husband Patrick, um, we just we were really brought together in a really incredible way, like a very clear way.

Carissa Douglas: 22:57

I had always prayed that that in terms of marriage, because it's such an important aspect of your your faith journey that I would really like know for sure that this is the one that God had intended for me. And uh things just seem, yeah, we're being brought together in an incredible way, with with great clarity. And then I think it was our third date where he acknowledged how perfect things seemed to be. And he's like, Oh, I just have one question for you. He said, How many kids do you want? And I kind of like froze for a moment because my whole life, of course, I was like, Oh, yeah, I'm gonna have a dozen kids. But I never, it never occurred to me that that might actually scare a lot of guys away, probably most guys away.

Carissa Douglas: 23:41

There's probably, you know, very few guys that would take that in a, you know, in a joyful way. And so I was like, oh dear, I have to actually say this. And I don't know how the this person that I'm growing to care about so deeply is going to respond to it. So I said to him, I have two answers. I said, My first answer is however many children God wants to give me. And he was just like, oh, that's the perfect answer. And he gave me this big hug. And then as he's like squishing me and hugging me, I'm like, the second answer is 12.

Carissa Douglas: 24:13

And he hugged me tighter because it turns out that in the same way that God had preparing, been preparing my heart for a large family, he'd been working on Patrick too. And I guess Patrick came from a family. There's um, there's two girls, two boys, so four of them. But when he went to Ireland when he was about 14 years old, and he met for the first time his cousins. And it turns out they had 14 children.

Carissa Douglas: 24:40

And he said, of the whole trip, like all these places, all these things he saw, the most beautiful experience was meeting this big family. He said it was warm and joyful and engaging. And he said, like, no one was alone, no one was left out, everyone had somebody, and he thought, no, this is what I want. So it was perfect. So he wanted 14. And obviously, God's like, hey, we're gonna give you some bonuses. So if we really were brought together, I think, for that reason. And and I think just um that God is continuing to show us that he has a particular mission for us.

Sheila Nonato: 25:16

Um, yeah, that's um such an inspiring story that you are both open to life. And nowadays, um, there seems to be a fear or maybe even a disdain of children that you know it's cramping our lifestyle. We want to travel, we want to do lots of things, and it children seem to be a burden financially and um however else people find children. What what would if you could give us a glimpse into what is it like to have a large family? Um, can you dispel some myths for us? Like, you know, it's too expensive, we can't afford it, um, you know, the house is too noisy. I don't know, whatever other excuses we can come up with, right? Um, tell us about, yeah, what what is your family life like?

Carissa Douglas: 26:04

So I I think people are shocked when they come and visit us because I'm actually an extreme introvert, which is funny. I need my time like a quiet, you know, and that's where I fill my tank is actually in the quiet and in being able to speak with God. And especially early on, that was more difficult because of the need that children have when they're very young, and there were so many of them. So it was more difficult with that, but I still tried to find ways. Like sometimes Patrick would just give me um even half an hour just to go kind of for a walk and to kind of reset. And that usually was enough to kind of get me through.

Carissa Douglas: 26:38

Um, what I find is so I guess the the beauty of it is that you go into it thinking like that each child is going to be, you know, a greater responsibility for you, is going to take more of your life, it's going to take so much of your energy and time. And what we don't realize like is that actually the more children I had, the more that they had each other. And so I found that I didn't have to work to entertain them quite as hard because they had these siblings that were taking that on to some degree. Um, but also it it lessened my fear because with each child, I kind of saw how God was moving and how he was very much a participant in our life. It wasn't just Patrick and I trying to take on more, but it was he was with us.

Carissa Douglas: 27:29

And every time we needed something, it it would be there. His provision was just amazing. It could be something silly. Like, I was like, oh, these, this like pencil sharpener is driving me crazy because it keeps breaking down. And then I get a knock at the door, and you know, a woman from our church would be like, I have this extra sharpener, you know, do could you use it? It's electric, it's really strong. And I'd be like, Lord, like, even a pencil sharpener you're giving me. So there was just a way of that provision.

Carissa Douglas: 27:56

It also um, I find that big families are very green in some ways because, you know, there's no, there's not a lot of food that gets wasted. We've learned how to, you know, we reuse things, we we really use things to the fullest. Clothing gets passed down, and and the kids don't mind um using, you know, the clothes from an another sibling. Um, same with like, it's not like you have to buy all new baby gear every time you have a new baby. It's like, no, we got it. We can, we can use this again. So there, there's a real mentality of um kind of a shared uh material, um, material life that we all kind of, you know, work together. Um we we did a lot of garage sailing early on because yeah, there was, you know, expenses that we knew we could save on that way.

Carissa Douglas: 28:41

But it's it's really not nearly as expensive as people think, you know, and it's and it's it's what you choose too. I mean, if you're going to have feel like you have to have your child in every sport that's out there or every activity, then yeah, that would get very expensive. But I I mean, one of the blessings of having a large family is you have an automatic soccer team or volleyball, like they play with each other and they can be very active together. So it's just, it's just the choices. We we had to evaluate need versus want. And uh, and we've gotten really good at that. I think so much so in terms of the habits that we created early on in our marriage that at this point we're not, we're not struggling.

Carissa Douglas: 29:21

Like our we're all able to thrive. There's a work ethic that is that um comes in large family life. You have a like a, I guess, a team mentality. You're always kind of thinking about the needs of others. So it really is a great way to fight against uh the pervasive selfishness in the world because even our children they might have a need in the moment, and then they see that, you know, the baby just fell and they pause on their own need, knowing that that need needs to be met for the baby first. Like there's a lot of um just incredible virtues that are forged in that that life of daily leading with other people so that when they have jobs, like it's actually easier for them to get hired because they they're known for having a great work ethic, that they work hard and they have this sense of of other people.

Carissa Douglas: 30:08

And uh yeah, so it's it's actually I there's there's really not a lot of fear that I have at all in terms of inviting new little ones into the family because I just have a sense that no, God, God takes care of everything. He's shown us that over the years. Um, you might like, you know, think, wow, you know, you're on your 16th baby, how old are you going to be when this baby is like 20? And Sri says, I will be, I'm 47. So, you know, you think about that, you're like, oh my goodness, like I'll be getting closer to 70 when this child's just 20, but it doesn't matter because, you know, our lives are in God's hands.

Carissa Douglas: 30:46

And I mean, Patrick lost his Dad when he was only um 13 or 14 years old. So I mean, really, our lives are all just God's timing anyway. I mean, you could have a child when you're young and but then lose your spouse when you're young too. Like it's just so much of it is in his hands that I have no fear for that. I know that that if, you know, any child that he sends, I know he sent them for a reason, for a purpose, and in the perfect time. And and I thank him that he chose our family.

Sheila Nonato: 31:16

That's yeah, that's amazing. That's such a beautiful story. Um, and the story of surrender. How do you how do you find time to pray? And then what how do you pray? Because a lot of people, including myself sometimes, like struggling. What do I say? Or even with my kids, I say, let's uh have a quiet time for 10 minutes. And you're like, I don't what am I supposed to do? And those 10 minutes would yeah, sit there and what do I do? So, yeah, if you can invite um us into sort of yeah, your prayer routine um to sort of help us also develop a prayer routine of our own. Outro: "And the angel said to them, 'Be not afraid, for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy, which will come to all the people. For to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, is Christ the Lord.' The Gospel according to Saint Luke, Chapter 2, Verses 9 to 11. T

Sheila Nonato: 32:13

hank you very much for joining us today. We wish you and your family a blessed Christmas and a happy new year, and we thank you for joining us this year when we have explored many stories of the Sacred and the Feminine Genius.

Sheila Nonato: 32:28

Please join us again next time as we continue this incredible conversation with Carissa Douglas, who will share her prayer routine and more tips for teaching the faith to children, and further exploration of the feminine genius of Mother Mary and how that has guided Carissa's marriage and motherhood.

Co-Host: 33:10

I invite you to share this with another Catholic mom today. Please subscribe to our podcast and YouTube channel and please spread the word. Let's be brave, Let's be bold, and be blessed together.