WATERLOO - Shelley Hovenga, 42, will spend Mother's Day alone. That's exactly how she wants it.

Her husband, Reggie, 43, will take their 10 children out for the day following their tradition.

"The day will begin with the kids making and serving Shelley breakfast in bed," Reggie said. "All of the little ones will help out, too."

"I'm going to color her a picture for Mother's Day," 6-year-old Naomi said.

"I'll make her a homemade card," Mary, 13, said.

"I'll say Happy Mother's Day and give her a kiss," 8-year-old Grace said.

When Reggie and Shelley Hovenga tied the knot Dec. 31, 1988, they didn't plan on having so many children. But as the years went by, they welcomed each bundle of joy, one by one.

"When we first got married, I told Shelley that I wanted to have seven kids, but I was kind of joking around," said Reggie, who serves as the family life pastor at Heartland Vineyard Church in Waterloo. "Neither one of us came from big families."

This Mother's Day the couple is celebrating their latest addition to the family, Honor, who is 5 months old.

"We named her Honor because we think it's a true honor to be able to have our 10th child," Shelley said. "There are so many commonsense reasons to not have your 10th, such as finances, fear of not being able to spend enough time with each of the children, our ages, etc.

"But after praying and rereading the Scripture that says 'children are a blessing from God' and believing it to be true in our hearts, we felt very privileged to find out that I was pregnant."

The Hovenga children range in age from 5 months to 18 years. Three are preschoolers, four are home-schooled and three attend Janesville High School. Jacob the oldest, is preparing to graduate.

"It's never boring being in a large family," Jacob said.

Shelley said watching the children reach milestones and develop into their own person with their own thoughts and ideas has been rewarding.

"The teen years can be challenging, but then it's awesome to see them become young adults," she said. "In spite of our mistakes as parents, it's fun to see them learn and grow."

Along with making the commitment to raise a large family, the Hovengas decided early on that they wanted to spend a lot of time with their kids and include them in most everything.

"We noticed that taking them places wasn't nearly as fun if they didn't behave," Shelley said. "So, through trial and error, we came up with the motto that 'persistence beats resistance.' We found that if you don't give up, your kids really will learn pretty quickly.

"This applies to things like sharing, arguing, toilet training, disrespectful attitudes, bedtimes, etc. We want to enjoy our kids so we found it necessary to take the time to teach them to obey us at home, then you can take them anywhere."

The Hovengas have shared what they learned through parenting workshops at Heartland Vineyard Church.

"We are definitely not perfect parents, but through making mistakes, talking to other parents, reading as many resources as we can - along with the practical experience of living every day with 10 children - we have learned many things," Shelley said.