Crissy recently asked me to read the Duggar Family new book: The Duggars: 20 and Counting! Since she is the next Michelle Duggar (currently pregnant with her third baby in 3 years) I figured I’d pick it up and see Crissy’s future life haha!
I love watching the Duggar’s family show, 18 Kids and Counting, on TLC. It’s refreshing to see a wholesome, family show on TV that actually talks about God and shows people living their lives for Him! What other reality shows really offer family values anymore? Um none!
The book was just ok in my opinion. It was interesting to read about their lives but it was a bit confusing as both Jim Bob (I love his name cracks me up EVERY TIME I see it!) and Michelle co-wrote it so they’d say “I” then have to put in parenthesis which “I” they meant. Obviously, writing is not one of their best skills.
I think the best thing about the book was that their family is proof of the blessing we will receive if we trust in the Lord. Every decision they make they put it before Him and they pray about it together. They read the bible everyday as a family (we SO need to do this!!!) and they truly live their lives for God. It’s amazing to see that all their children love the Lord and strive to do right for Him. How awesome is that?!?
The family took THREE years to BUILD their own home. They had never done a project like that before and had no experience but through prayer they were able to do it and their house is HUGE. The kids bedrooms (one boys, one girls) are 2,000 square feet EACH. Um dang! We’re just hoping our entire next house can be that big haha It seemed like most of the book was about the great deals they got on stuff haha. I think they like to brag about their bargains like I do! But it really did seem like that everything they needed God somehow provided. They try hard to pay for things in full and they are patient with their wants and wait until they know it’s what God wants for them.
It was very inspiring to me. I sit here in my 3 bedroom house with my ONE child and I think it’s too small. We gotta move before we even think about baby #2! And they had 5 children in a two bedroom 900 square foot house. That’s about half the size of ours! I really can’t imagine it!
I also liked how they went into details about some of their parenting methods. Michelle uses the Bradley Method for Natural Childbirth just like I did! She is obviously more lenient than I am in her parenting style as she has toooo many kids to be overly concerned with schedules. She does practice blanket time with her children though and this is something I’d like to do. They also home school their children which is something I don’t personally believe in but I do see the value in turning every opportunity into a learning experience!
When I finished the book I sat back and thought about my own faith. It needs a little work! Would I trust in God enough to wait THREE years for my house to be finished being built? Would I really pass up opportunities for things I wanted because I didn’t have the cash to pay for them? Do I really trust God to take care of me? I always say that “God will provide” but do I really believe it?
I know a lot of people have read the Dave Ramsey series and it’s something I think I need to pick up. After reading about how much God has blessed the Duggar’s lives I’m sure he’d bless mine just as much (although I highly doubt we’d get picked up for a tv series…). I don’t think Zach and I will EVER go cash-only as I have gotten so many things for FREE from credit cards (we got hotel stay in NYC, at Disney, and several plane tickets for FREE from our thankyou points!) and I think our system works pretty well about paying them off in full each month but I do think it’d be great to not own money on cars and to pay off our home quicker than 30 years. I’ll pick it up when I have more time to read it and see where it leads us! In the meantime I’m going to work on my PRAYER life and work on giving things to God before I make a move to get them for myself! Thanks Crissy for telling me to read the book, I’m glad I did but I don’t feel inspired to pop out a thousand kids haha!
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My parents took the Dave Ramsey classes through our church and now they are obsessed. They have everything paid off and have emergency cash funds set up and 6 months of their salaries saved in case something happens. They loved the class so much and they have all the books, dvds, etc. and they are pushing really hard for me to take it as well. They are the happiest they have ever been and probably the most financially secure they have ever been. My dad tells me all the time that churches all over offer the class and it isn't religion specific so if I ever do see that it is being offered, I need to do it. I think its a great idea…now just need to make the time to do it! 🙂
Justin and I are currently taking Financial Peace through our church, and we love it. We too lived off credit cards paying them off each month, but have started using a cash budget recently. It really is a great class and gives so much information but lets you make the choice.
so glad you finally posted something about this 😉 the book really inspired us to have more of family Bible reading and prayer time, and to put God in the center of more of the things we do (even the small things like potty training). I already wanted to have tons of kids b4 reading the book, but it did inspire me to have a few more than a ton, hahaha! with c-sections, I doubt they will ever let me have 19, but I did recently find a blog about a lady who had 9 c-sections, but you know we totally want to adopt in the future too. I would love to go cash everything, but also I don't feel convicted to pay off my small loans and we WILL be adopting and I don't know for sure if we will be able to do that in full cash, but I do know for sure that Jesus wants us to do this, so we will trust in Him and do it the way He wants us to do it.I agree with you though, the book did make me "check" myself with materialistic things, and you know how "hippie" I am, and I still had a lot of "checking" to do 🙂