Duggar Family Expecting Child 18: Is There Enough Love to Go Around?

By now it's nothing new to hear that the Duggars are having their 18th child. They made the announcement on the Today Show for Mother's Day. The children gave their mom some pearls and then their dad presented her with a ring from a used jewelry shop that she had picked out. The kids thought they were surprising their mom but then Michelle, their mom, while holding their 9 month old, announced that she was expecting...again...surprising the entire family!

I, like many of you, saw the clip of the show and thought, "Holy cow!!!! Why would you put your body through that!" And, admittedly, at first...ok and even now some, I found myself very judgmental of their situation. My first reaction was, of course, that this is just bizarre! I was all bothered with the length of their hair, their seemingly fake perfect attitudes and that they would have so many children period. I initially felt they were being phony and that if we were a fly on their wall we would see some majorly stressed out children and a mom who was at her wits end. However, I find that there is a part of their world that I find respectable and commendable. They say they are debt-free, prayerful, that they love one another and have a family motto that is all about treating each other with love and respect. Those are not easily attainable goals to reach in today's day and age, especially with so many mouths to feed! Whether all of those statements are true or not, who knows, but I think they probably truly are happy. Surely there is stress and tension. They are, after all, human but I do believe they do their best to stay positive and treat one another with love and respect on a daily basis. For that effort, I applaud them because we all know it'd be easier to choose impatience, bickering and anger.