Duggar Family Expecting 18th Child (WATCH)

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — It's a happy Mother's Day for an Arkansas woman _ she's pregnant with her 18th child. Michelle Duggar, 41, is due on New Year's Day, and the latest addition will join seven sisters and 10 brothers. There are two sets of twins.

"We've had three in January, three in December. Those two months are a busy time for us," she said, laughing.

The Duggars' oldest child, Josh, is 20, and the youngest, Jennifer, is nine months old.

The fast-growing family lives in Tontitown in northwest Arkansas in a 7,000-square-foot home. All the children _ whose names start with the letter J _ are home-schooled.

Duggar has been been pregnant for more than 11 years of her life, and the family is in the process of filming another series for Discovery Health.

The new show looks at life inside the Duggar home, where chores _ or "jurisdictions" _ are assigned to each child. One episode of the new show involves a "jurisdiction swap," where the boys do chores traditionally assigned to the girls, and vice versa, Duggar said.

"The girls swapped jurisdictions, changing tires, working in the garages, mowing the grass," she said. "The boys got to cook supper from start to finish, clean the bathrooms," among other chores.

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Duggar said she's six weeks along and the pregnancy is going well. She and her husband, Jim Bob Duggar, said they'll keep having children as long as God wills it.

"The success in a family is first off, a love for God, and secondly, treating each other like you want to be treated," Jim Bob Duggar said. "Our goal is for each one of our children to be best friends, and everybody working together to serve each other makes that happen."

The other Duggar children, in between Joshua and Jennifer, are Jana, 18; John-David, 18; Jill, 16; Jessa, 15; Jinger, 14; Joseph, 13; Josiah, 11; Joy-Anna, 10; Jeremiah, 9; Jedidiah, 9; Jason, 7; James, 6; Justin, 5; Jackson, 3; and Johannah, 2.

___

On the Net:

Duggar family Web site: http://www.duggarfamily.com

Discovery Health site: http://health.discovery.com/convergence/duggars/duggarfamily.html

Comments

[ChucklingRedRectum]

VAGINA: It's not a clown car.

[uheardme]

lol

[SILVANUS]

I am all for happy families and they sound like nice folks, but come on! What's with the numbers? It's a bit compulsive not to mention, consumptive.

[sscheshire]

The proud mother and father explained that they name all of their children with names beginning with "J" in honor of Jesus. Actually the biblical character's name was certainly not Jesus, more likely Yeshua; Jesus has only become an accepted translation. SO perhaps they should be naming their children with "Y" names! And the mother claims that she will continue to have children until God does not allow her to continue! -This frightens me. They are disturbingly out of touch with reality, not to mention their own faith, and the primary text on which it is based. I can only hope they raise 18 rebels that run for the nearest pagan city when they can.

[happycat]

More reasons not to like Mama and Papa Duggar.

[QueenCeleste]

An abomination. The man should be neutered and the woman spayed, pronto.

[trinity]

I'm not sure how the good Lord would feel if everyone had 18 kids, thus consuming everything on his beautiful creation...the Earth, at an alarming rate (as if we were a huge swarm of locusts).

[calgary]

Let put it this way. Do you think the productivity/contribution of these 18 kids raised by this family will most likely be greater than the productivity/contribution of 18 kids raised by 18 different teenage single Mom living on welfare.

[wolfgangmo]

Or to put it another way.

Do you think that that the productivity/contribution of these 18 kids will likely be greater than the productivity/contribution of 18 raised in 6 families of 3 kids each.

Hey. I can quote meaningless made up fantasy scenarios too.

Go back to masturbating to your Ron Reagan photo.

[Ipanemagirl]

This is the most pathetic story I have heard this year, and I hear many!
God does not make babies, we do, by having sex!! If you believe in "God" then you must also acknowledge that he gave us brains to judge for ourselves what is right or wrong to do in each individual case...he did not realize his creation would be like stupid robots that just keep breeding like rabbits until "God" finally brings menopause to this poor woman!
I've seen overly simple minded religious people fall into this category a bit too many times and its really distasteful. Its using their belief to cover up for their total ignorance. They do not think nor do they question anything...which is a sign of intelligence, by the way...what a waste of human life and lack of brains! I think "God" would be most disappointed when he sees such results ; but the worst part is that we all pay for their sins...and stupidity, by their contribution in endangering an already over populated world with more people! Its selfish , ignorant and TRULY pathetic!

[Jess27]

I think this family is irresponsible. The world is overpopulated. Just think about all the food they eat, energy needed for cooking it, heating and cooling the 7,000 square foot house, all the gas that is guzzled when they go on their family vacations in 2 RVs where they lug with them food from home because you can't exactly eat out with 19 people for every meal. Think about all those grandchildren they will have one day. One family 3 generation from now will have more people in it than some counties in this country.

[happycat]

Oh God, I hate to think about how many Grandkids these Bible thumpers are going to have.

[Gumby123]

Vayjayjay: It's not a clown car

[politicky]

"...Jim Bob Duggar, a former member of the Arkansas Legislature and an unsuccessful U.S. Senate candidate, has not been specific when asked how he supports such a big family. But he said he was guided by a seminar about 20 years ago that blends finance and religion..."

http://www.columbusdispatch.com/live/content/national_world/stories/2008/05/10/18_kids_0510.ART_ART_05-10-08_A7_O9A5NNF.html?sid=101

[wolfgangmo]

In other words he is fleecing the rubes and training his telebangelical get to do the same.

Sounds about 2 degrees of separation from Fred Phelps.

[padfoot]

These people are running a kiddie mill. If these two adults had to actually raise these children, and not pawn off their responsibility on the older siblings, that would be too tired to make any more.

[Mojane]

Good God! Either tie this woman's tubes, but better yet, snip the father's. To give this kind of excess any praise or congratulations is incredibly misguided at best. Adopt! Our planet is overcrowded to a dangerous level, there are famines, we're running out of water, and idiots like this want more babies!

[wolfgangmo]

Yup. Snip his.

He is republican so he is either on the down low or seeing hookers/mistresses. How many kids does he really have.

[elr50]

I agree with China-no more than two babies per family. I taught for 30 years, and the larger the family, the more starved for attention the child was. These people are DISGUSTING.

[BadCompany]

China allows one per.

[dadw5boys]

Well in your 30 years you did not learn that kids can not be ther center oif the universe for family. The family is the center of thier universe. These college grads from the 1970 have tried to reverse history and make the kids the center of family life instead of the family the center of their life. By giving kids this kind of power over adults which is not only stupid but it leads to a breakdown in the fundmentals of civilization like respect for your elders, control of ones mouth, respect for the property of other, respect for societies rules in general and respect for the parents.

Of course we can now DRUG THER KIDS so parents won't have to actually be a parent.

[maddie0001]

I get the "freak show" side of this story but I don't get the reason for the hostility expressed here. The family seems healthy and happy. They must be able to afford all those kids or someone would have proof that they're don't. If they're eligible for public assistance, more power to them. I personally think godless liberals (like myself) should be reproducing to the max, setting up alternative education systems, and wringing every penny we can from government funding sources. If there's a way to set up your house as a church, go for it!

Also, what percentage of families have more than 3 kids? So small I don't need to worry about it. It's probably a bigger carbon footprint when 2 adults and 1 child live in a macMansion. And frankly, unwed teenage mothers are probably responsible for a bigger drain on tax dollars - from more complicated pregnancies all the way to increased odds of jail.

[BadCompany]

I've seen these people on the Discovery channel.
The congregation of their "church" is comprised of this family and *one* other mega-family.
I suppose it is easier to afford 18 kids if you're tax cheats.

[wolfgangmo]

Church? I gotta get my online Dr. of Divinity degree. It is time for the first church of the holy fleece to get started.

[Ipanemagirl]

Excuse me, but I do mind if these people are living off our tax dollars...what right do they have?
I rather my tax dollars go to funding birth control and sexual education to prevent scenes like this to happen....This happens a lot in the third world where people are the poorest, no education and no resources to control birth....and it becomes everybody's trouble in the end!
All you have to do is read the news!!!!

[EdKate2008]

If all 7 billion people in the world followed the irresponsible example of this family, we would have 70 billion people in the world in one generation and 700 billion in two generations.

Pretty disgusting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[PerfectGent]

Children should be sterilized at birth; we already choose their religion at birth so why not do something responsible for a change. Reversal of sterilization should only be performed when the child is educated. This family is completely irresponsible and delusional, having children is egotistical. I am 30, my wife and I CAN have children, but plan to adopt, preferable a child outside of our “race.”

[happycat]

You really need to get yourself some therapy ASAP. What you are espousing is sick and frightening. It is best that your children will be adopted. We wouldn't want to pass down your genes. They are obviously defective.

[hypnotoad72]

She is not a mother. She's Polaroid's new invention - Instant Baby(tm). Their instant film camera having taken the way of the dodo, they now turn to a boobie.

[naijaman]

If the family has the financial and emotional ability to raise these children, then more power to them.

[crazylikeafox]

Like to see their taxes. I'll bet the American taxpayers are paying to raise these kids.

[BadCompany]

Why haven't you declared your home a church?