Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar consider adopting
Josh Duggar, the eldest of Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar's 18 children featured on TLC's "18 Kids and Counting," with his wife Anna. (April 10, 2009) Credit: AP
They have "19 Kids & Counting," to quote the title of their TLC reality show, but Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar say they are thinking about adopting another.
"We are open to the idea of adoption," Michelle Duggar, 46, told People magazine Tuesday. "We are praying about it, and we will see what God has in store. Love for children has been placed on our hearts."
The couple suffered a second-trimester miscarriage in December 2011 of what would have been their 20th child, a girl they named Jubilee Shalom. They held a memorial service for her that Dec. 14. Very early into her second pregnancy, in the late 1980s. Michelle miscarried an unborn child of indeterminate sex, which they named Caleb. Their 19th child, daughter Josie, was born premature at 25 weeks on Dec. 10, 2009, but survived.
"The kids are definitely pushing towards wanting us to open our home up to another child or more," Michelle Duggar said. "They see how much we have been blessed with and how little so many children have and they want to share. We tell our children that would have to be something that is God's will for our family, and we will see if it is. Our children love children, and we all do."
Earlier this month, Josh Duggar, 25, their eldest child, announced he and his wife, Anna, were expecting their third child. This would be the third grandchild for Jim Bob Duggar, 47, and his wife, following granddaughter Mackynzie, 3, and grandson Michael, nearly 2.
