That famous lean mean reproducing machine, the Duggars, are at it again! I watched this family on TV a few times a few months back. I just learned recently that Michelle Duggar is pregnant for their EIGHTEENTH child, due next January!
One side of me says "How the hell do you manage a family that large?" Of course, I can still remember the first choir I directed. We had a couple in the choir who were the parents of 15 kids.
The other side of me says "You can't say they ain't pro-life, that's fer sure!" (that's a good thing, BTW - I think we all know that).
RSCT to Diane at Te Deum Laudamus.
Peace,
BMP
2 comments:
I saw them too. Their house looks pretty nice, so it's obvious that they can get by ok with that many offspring. What galls me is the nuts who think the Church wants them to produce a kid each time the wife drops an egg, creating an impoverished slobbering brood as depicted in the Monty Python musical number "Every Sperm Is Sacred...cause I'm a Roman Cath'lic". I know a local family like this who have a zillion kids and can't afford them. I heard the father proclaim once that they had so many children because the Lord kept providing them. My thoughts:
"The Lord also provided you a brain with which He intended you to control the animalistic wants of your own penis."
JP
Well, I'm the 9th of 9, I work with the 14th of 16, and the 11th of 11 (whose father is one of TWENTY SIX, same parents - you read that right - unfortunately, not all survived, and her mother is one of 8) and one of the religious brothers at SJC is the
12th of 14 or some such thing.
I didn't grow up wealthy by any stretch, and to my knowledge, neither did any of the aforementioned. (In fact, the guy who is the 14th of 16 reports that in all his childhood, they lived in a house with ONE BATHROOM.)
We didn't get the new clothes, we didn't get the good Atari games (only the ones that were dirt cheap, like "Pong" and "Missile Command") and we didn't take fancy vacations.
Still, there is not ONE of the people I just mentioned who a) has a sib or a parent they don't speak to, b) thinks they had a bad childhood or c) thinks they missed out on something.
You CAN afford a large family, if you give up luxuries and scrimp. Yes, we ate a lot of hot dogs. Yes, I was jealous of my friends who raked it in on Christmas.
But I would NEVER, NEVER change a thing - and I would have said the same thing at age 8, age 12, age 15... (And did, many times, when my parents and their number of children were questioned.)
I would have a dozen if God would allow it. Generally, the people with large families don't do it because they think "every sperm is sacred." They do it because they love children, they love their families, and they can't imagine a different life, vacations be damned.
Of course, running yourself into the poorhouse is terrible and immoral. But I find that the ones who do that are generally unmarried. Married couples with lots of kids may appear to be "poor", shopping at Goodwill (perish the thought!), eating grilled cheese four nights a week, but they might tell you they are richer than most.
;)
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