Enough for Four Basketball Teams

Jim Bob and Michelle Duggars of TLC's 19 Kids and Counting announced this week that Michelle is expecting baby number 20 in April. Wow! Amazing! Giving birth to 20 kids! Admirable, and great television. Doctors are concerned for her health though and that of the baby due to her age and the wearing out of her uterus.

My concern is for that relationship, between Michelle and Jim Bob. If you have twenty children, that means your entire life revolves around parenthood. Being a parent is a wonderful experience and is fulfilling and rewarding. But, the relationship between Mom and Dad needs to be nurtured and worked on. Most parents go through a loss of connectivity in the early stages of parenthood, but as Baby becomes more independent, they can start to work on their relationship again.

But when all you do is raise children, how can you focus on your marriage? I know, what if they are satisfied with just parenting and that's how they connect as a couple? isn't that okay? Sure…until the kids leave the nest. because once the Duggars are left home without a baby to diaper or a kid to drive to soccer practice, they'll be left with just each other. And, the person they have been spending their lives with they only know as the "other parent." And, when there's no child to parent, how will they interact with one another?

These two need to figure out how they can squeeze out time for one another if they plan on being a couple one day and not just a couple of live-in nannies.