Book:"A Love That Multiplies" by Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar. They're to be Admired but Most Humans Won't Measure Up.

Pic of Day

    

While I enjoy competitive reality shows and write about them on this very Blog, I don't much care for reality shows that are all about people and their daily lives.

I have, I admit, on occasion tuned into Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar's reality show more information here.

The book and ordering information here.

The Duggars are famous for their "19 Kids & Counting" series on TLC but they are also famous for, well, their 19 kids.

In my wildest dreams I cannot imagine having 19 kids. One would have to be very organized, patient, almost a saint, to carry such a thing off.

Jim and Michelle Duggar are darn close to saints and folks, I don't necessarily mean this is a compliment.

THOUGH I DO NOT MEAN TO INSULT, DO NOT MISUNDERSTAND!

If ever there were a couple that should be re-populating this country it for sure would be the Duggars. They are a law-abiding, deeply religious couple, they do not live off the work of others, are entrepreneurs, home school their kids, dress modestly, read the bible every night….

Whew. I must stop now.

This is an interesting read for sure, though it probably won't rock your world. The book was displayed as a new and recently received books and this is one of my favorite library sections. I figured maybe in the read I would learn some major secrets of organizing and running a household. Organized people, or so goes my theory, live more than the haplessly disorganized. Those with no clue how to efficiently run their lives tend to spend large portions of it looking for stuff they mislaid, searching for notes and reminders, calling around at the last minute for whatever event is upon.

It's an interesting book, a casual read. Chapters are occassionally peppered with informative insets of recipes or tips on feeding a gang. One chapter detailed how the Duggars pack for a trip and goodness this crew does travel quite a bit, often to impoverished countries doing missionary work.

As I read on I began to feel….well…. "bad" on some vague level. I'd never go to some muddy spot on earth to spend my hot days helping people in a foreign country that I don't know and don't want to know. I'd never just lend my house to a family with 19 kids, as was done for the Duggars as they provided vigil over their youngest baby, little Josie, born over three months too son and requiring four months in an NICU. I'd never open my home to a family too with a passel of kids to help locals recover from devastating ice storms.

The Duggars are, however, very sweet, way sweeter and nicer than me.

The book is a bit confusing, some might say, in that it's written as if Jim Bob and Michelle were having a conversation with the reader.

This was not an offensive way to write a book, not even disconcerting. This method did require Michelle or Jim Bob, as they began a new chapter, to tell us who's doing the narrating. An example:

As I (Michelle) was walking to Arkansas Children's Hospital one day….

She has to tell us that it's her talking because the prior chapter Jim Bob might have been doing the narrating.

A reader of normal IQ would follow easily enough but thought I'd mention.

The Duggars do tell a compelling story about the birth of their most recent child, the birth of their first grandchild (can you imagine how many grandchildren they're going to have?), the difficulties of dealing with a bout of chicken pox. It is the sort of stuff that happens in our families of three or four children and to no one's surprise, it's a big deal and it's a bit nerve-wracking.

The greatest thing Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar have going for them, the secret to their success in raising such a large family, is the dedication both of them have to the task, their firm belief that they would accept with love and joy all offspring God would send them.

It's inspiring. If nothing else, those struggling to raise just a few children should close the book knowing that it can be done, even with a family the size of the Duggars.