Famecrawler
What if all families were this big? Michelle Duggar says that's fine
It’s so hard to know what to make of Michelle Duggar and her ever-expanding family. On the one hand, they’re loving, respectful, charitable and thrifty. Their children help around the house and care for their siblings; the oldest sons own their own businesses. And they bore their recent tragedy – Michelle’s miscarriage - with dignity despite their pain.
On the other hand, their insular lifestyle strikes many as being kind of hinky: homeschooling, little interaction with families different from their own, strict limits on what kind of TV shows and movies the kids can see. (Andy Griffith, yes; SpongeBob, no.) And their ultraconservative religious beliefs make lots of folks’ skin crawl, especially their views on women’s roles in the home and society. Let’s put it this way: The Duggar girls aren’t being raised to become physicists or CEOs.
And then every so often, the Duggars come out with something utterly head-shaking. Today, in a CBN interview, Michelle defended her family’s impact on the environment as being okay because there’s no such thing as overpopulation.
Um, what?
A heartbreaking moment for the Duggar family.
For several seasons, viewers have watched the lives of the Duggar family unfold: building their new house, taking exciting trips around the world, participating in fun activities and welcoming new members to their already-huge family (most recently, daughter Josie and granddaughter Mackynzie).
But in tonight’s season finale of 19 Kids and Counting, parents Michelle and Jim Bob share their most heartbreaking moment with their audience: the day they learned that Michelle had suffered a miscarriage.
The cameras follow the couple into the ultrasound room, where, Michelle recalls, “We were so excited to see the baby on the ultrasound screen and find out if it was a girl or a boy.”
But as the technician examines the image on the screen, the look on her face says it all.
The couple soon learn that their baby’s heart is no longer beating.
The Duggars started a tradition.
When you think about the megafamily of Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar, lots of questions come to mind. Like: Why all the kids? And How do they stay sane? And What will Michelle and the girls do with all their spare time once they finally finish changing diapers? And Come on – would it really be that big a sin if the Duggar girls wore jeans once in a while?
Then, of course, there’s the inevitable: So what’s with all the “J” names? As any Duggar follower knows, all 19 of their children, from oldest son Joshua to little Josie, have the same first initial. Even the baby Michelle recently miscarried, God rest her soul, was named Jubilee.
In her blog on the family’s website, Michelle explains their decision.
“There’s no quick answer, but it started with our first child,” she writes. “Emotionally, we loved the Bible name Joshua. So we named our first child Josh after him.”
She goes on to say that they thought about naming their next son Caleb – the Biblical Joshua’s friend – but her next pregnancy ended in a miscarriage.
They went on to have fraternal twins, a son and daughter. Michelle and Jim Bob named their son John-David, and then decided on Jana for their daughter. “My grandmother’s name was Ana, and we put the J on the front because we wanted to show honor, and we thought that Ana was a great person in the scriptures as well.”
The Duggars continue to cope with the loss of baby Jubilee Shalom
Despite the stress and grief of the last few weeks – enduring the miscarriage of their baby, then naming the tiny girl and planning a memorial service – the Duggar family has continued to go public with the details of their loss. Maybe sharing their feelings helps them cope, or maybe they’re so used to having cameras and microphones following them that they don’t see the point in shutting themselves away now.
Parents Michelle and Jim Bob talked to People today about how they and their children are handling the loss of baby Jubilee Shalom. Michelle is doing her best to hold herself together as she offers comfort to the younger ones. Seven-year-old son Jackson, for instance, recently asked about the sister he will never meet.
“I told him there is going to be a day when we will be together again,” she says. “As the days go on, I know we will have time to talk through all this. I have been trying to hold my composure and do what I needed to do, and then be able to grieve.”
Also struggling is 20-year-old daughter Jill, an aspiring midwife who was tracking the baby’s heartbeat during her mom’s latest pregnancy.
The Duggars
The very large Duggar family endured a family tragedy last week. Michelle Duggar sadly miscarried what would have been her 20th child. The family is presently mourning the loss of this baby who was to be born in April. As part of dealing with their grief, they will hold a funeral for the baby. And they have also given the baby a name. Did it start with a “J” like all the other kids? Continue reading »
Five of the Duggars' children are December babies.
Life doesn’t always go along as neatly as we’d like it to. We can’t separate good and bad times into little boxes and open one set while saving the other set for a more convenient time. Tragedy can come in the midst of great joy, while moments of gladness can brighten the most sorrowful time.
You’ve probably experienced this yourself. I know I have. My daughter was born while her paternal grandfather was dying in a hospital just a few miles away. My husband’s family came to see the new arrival and snap a couple of quick photos before hurrying back to my unconscious father-in-law’s bedside to tell him the news, hoping some part of him might hear it. He passed away the next day.
With that in mind, I have to wonder: How must the Duggar family be feeling, grieving the loss of their 20th child at a time when they were expecting to celebrate happier milestones? Continue reading »
Michelle Duggar Will Name Lost Baby
This week Michelle Duggar suffered a miscarriage of what would have been her 20th child. The 44-year-old very fertile mother went to the doctor on Thursday to find out that the baby she was carrying did not have a heartbeat. The family was, of course, heartbroken.
Michelle Duggar – who is a grandmother as well – is resting at home and is being cared for by her very large family. But the grieving for the lost life hasn’t ended yet. Michelle and her husband Jim Bob will name the baby and have a funeral for them.
But will the baby’s name start with a J? Continue reading »
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