When I recently read that the Duggars were expecting baby #19, I was speechless. It had to soak in. 19. I'm not sure when I first heard about this large Arkansas Family. I think I was at a Ladies gathering to have coffee and prayer when this Christian Family with 17 children at the time was mentioned. I gulped my coffee. 17 children...I couldn't even imagine this.With great delight they have announced that Mrs. Duggar is expecting baby 19. What if she has twins? It might be babies 19 and 20.
When I first heard about them is when my handy dandy computer started cyberspacing them. True, they had 17 children at the time and this is how they managed.
As a child I had wanted 10 children. This changed after the reality of being a mom that was on the go from the time I woke up til I laid down at night. Birth of my first child fast forwarded me into being a momma to an overly active child that needed a momma to watch over him and supervise him CONSTANTLY. He was like greased lightening.
I couldn't even imagine all the work it would require to have ten children. I started to take a wait and see attitude. I was determined to raise my children without using Day Care or a Baby Sitter.
However, I was not accustomed to putting so many hours in tending to another's needs. It took me by surprise how much energy being pregnant required. Then to be a full-time momma, I was learning the ropes as I went and it didn't come naturally to me. I knew so little. Along the way I would learn so much about love, God, laying my life down for another by being a momma, not to mention being a wife and homemaker.
After I stopped nursing and used glass bottles with nipples that had to be sterilized in a pan full of hot water upon the stove (which I actually enjoyed doing), rinsing out cloth diapers in the toilet then laundering them in the washing machine onto hanging them out to air dry on the clothesline (which I actually enjoyed doing even before we had a clothes dryer and disposable diapers existed), clean-up~clean-up before everybody did their share (which wasn't so bad), hand washing the dishes because we didn't have an electric dish washer (which wasn't so aweful), I was a busy Homemaker, Wife and Momma. I looked forward to having another child...just not ten at that time. I was grubbing up on being a wife, momma and homemaker. Challenges...yes.
It was a new adventure of the real kind that rocked my world. A frontier for me to discover and call my own.
Thank goodness we had running water, flushing toilets, toilet paper, electricity, telephones, radios, running automobiles and Public Libraries. Ten children...10. After all the work it required to take care of one child, I couldn't imagine 10 blessings which would be our children to raise. Like the Duggars and so many other Families that trust God for the number of children they will have, it never crossed my mind to trust God with the number of children He wanted to Bless us with. This concept wasn't even on the back burner.
We had a little black and white television without cable, no PBS television children's programs, no children's programs to watch on VCRs because there was no such thing as VCRs. No video games because they weren't invented yet. No fast food restaurants available. We ONLY had books to read, crayons to color with, stories to tell, building blocks, songs to sing, a large fenced backyard to play in, toy cars/trucks to push around, an outdoor dog and our imaginations. VERY WONDERFUL. Very wonderful.
Now back to the Duggars. Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar are expecting their 19th baby as well as their first Grandbaby. They believe that children are a gift from God and very much a blessing. I agree. Lord willing baby number 19 will arrive safe and sound. A fine Christian Family that will receive children into their care with love and the chidren be well taken care of. How have they managed? Their web site will explain. I have actually tried some of their recipes which are great. http://www.duggarfamily.com/
It caught my attention when I was reading a newsletter where Pat Williams, the Senior Vice President of NBA's Orlando Magic Team was being interviewed. It mentioned that he is the father to 19 children. He and his wife Ruth have 19 children to tend to. 14 are adopted from 4 other Nations. He's a Christian Baptist that is a Inspirational/Motivational Speaker as well.
http://www.patwilliamsmotivate.com/
Thinking on large families, I remembered that Susanna Wesley (1669-1742), mother to John and Charles Wesley, had a large family. Just couldn't remember how many children, so I wikipedia her. 19. She and her husband Samuel had 19 children. She was born into a family of 25 children, being the 25th. Twenty Five. If only her mother had had a BLOG.
God bless,
~Deanna~
