When I was growing up, a family lived down the street from one of my best friends, and they had 6 kids whose names all started with the letter J. I used to be able to recite them ... John, Jay, Julie, Jed, Jessica and Jamie (maybe???) My friend and I used to say with all of our 12-year-old wisdom that naming 6 kids with the same first letter was just plain silly. You know their mom just found herself stuttering J...j...j... no matter who she wanted to call.Today I heard a story that has that family beat.
The Duggar family, of Arkansas, just welcomed their 17th - yes, SEVENTEENTH - child, and, you guessed it, every single one of them has a name which starts with J.
Joshua, 19; Jana and John David, 17; Jill, 16; Jessa, 14; Jinger, 13; Joseph, 12; Josiah, 10; Joy-Anna, 9; Jeremiah and Jedidiah, 8; Jason, 7; James, 6; Justin, 4; Jackson, 3; Johanna, 21 months, and Jennifer, born yesterday (August 2).
Oh - and here is the even bigger kicker.
The mom, Michelle (the only non-J in the family, as Dad's name is Jim-Bob [a la The Waltons]) is 40.Five years younger than me. Been pregnant for nearly 11 years out of the last 20. And (you had to know it was coming...) she homeschools them all.
3 comments:
Ok, you said that it was amazing that she has 17 kids with J names.. I am going to go off the deep end here, and say that to me, I think that 17 is the amazing part.. WHO would EVER want to put themselves thru THAT that many times? Yes I saw that she had 2 sets of twins, but still.. I am not sure that I would EVER want to be pregnant for 11 years. I have one and that is plenty.. and I thought that my CUB bill was high each week....
Well, you have to know that homeschooling is bound to be easier when you have that many kids. The older ones help the younger ones, etc. The bigger the family the more order there often is in terms of jobs. A family I once worked with had 6 children, all homeschooled, all on a postman's salary. "You can run your life like a cruise ship," she said. "Ours runs like a battleship." There was always a sense of order and peace in her house, even with all those people, that always seems lacking in mine!
i have to laugh at the battleship quote! i remember you (mama ava) telling us that her home was very quiet and orderly. my in-laws have been running a pretty tight ship here with the kids while we've been gone and they've been telling me this afternoon that i need to maintain it.
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