Pregnant Jana Duggar Shares Look at Rare Reunion With 40 Family Members
Pregnant Jana Duggar Shares Look at Rare Reunion With 40 Family Members
Jana Duggar is counting precious moments with her family as she prepares to start her own.
The 35-year-old—who is pregnant with her and husband Stephen Wissman's first baby—recently gave a glimpse of the 2024 Florida vacation, which included more than 40 members of the Duggar family.
Indeed, several of her 18 siblings—including her twin John-David Duggar—as well as their spouses and her nieces and nephews could be seen in her Sept. 19 YouTube video playing games, singing hymns together as well as spending time in the pool and on the beach.
She also shared a sweet moment with nephew Truett, 3, as he was given a piggyback ride by his mom, Jana’s sister-in-law Katey Duggar.
What is it, Truett?" Jana asked brother Jedidiah Duggar’s toddler, who responded, "Ocean."
In fact, the beach played a special role in the vacation—which took place not long after she and Stephen tied the knot—despite the rainy weather.
As Jana explained, it’s a Duggar family tradition to "walk the beach at night," which they commemorated with a group photo that included her parents, Michelle Duggar and Jim Bob Duggar, as well as sister Jessa Duggar Seewald, her husband Ben Seewald and their eldest kids Spurgeon, now 9, Henry, 8, Ivy, 6, Fern, 4, and George, 21 months.
"The good thing about doing a rainy day," Jana admitted, "is that there's hardly anyone on the beach."
While the 2024 Duggar family vacation included more than 40 people, the family has grown by three since then. After all, Jedidiah and Katey welcomed twins, Elsie Kate and Emma Kate, this past January and Jessa gave birth to her and Ben's sixth baby, Edward, in July.
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As Jana and Stephen count down the days until they become parents, look back at the complete Duggar family tree.
Michelle & Jim Bob Duggar
The parents of 19 and grandparents of over three dozen little ones started out as high school sweethearts.
Michelle has recalled being "saved" at 15. Then, one night, Jim Bob was making home outreach visits on behalf of his Baptist church and he ended up knocking on the Ruark family's door after his friend told him that "this girl from school that just got saved and is a cheerleader" lived there.
They invited Michelle to Sunday school at their church and, Jim Bob said, he prayed to god that they could be each other's spiritual leaders—though apparently their first meeting wasn't as memorable for Michelle. A year later, she applied for a job at the frozen yogurt shop owned by Jim Bob's parents. "You came to the counter where I was standing by the cash register and introduced yourself," Michelle remembered in a letter posted on the family blog in 2017 for Jim Bob's birthday and their 33rd wedding anniversary. "You were shy but very sweet! I really don't remember much about that conversation, except that you finally mustered up the courage to ask me if I would go to your junior-senior banquet with you!"
She attended the dinner with him at Shiloh Christian, but it was when they hung out afterward discussing the Bible for hours at her parents' house that she knew."From there, we believe our hearts were knit together," Michelle has said. "We graduated high school in May of 1984 and were married in July. I was 17 and Jim Bob was 19."
40 Years Later...
The couple dedicated themselves to God and each other for the long run.
Jim Bob is a former state legislator, having served in the Arkansas House of Representatives for the sixth district from 1999 until 2002, during which he was vice chair of the House of Corrections and Criminal Law Subcommittee. A run for U.S. Senate in 2002 ended in the primary, as did a bid in 2006 to become the Republican nominee for Arkansas State Senate District 35.
He and Michelle, who are both licensed realtors, have been active in conservative causes—an aspect of their lifestyle that won them and 19 Kids and Counting (which premiered in 2008 as 17 Kids and Counting) both proud supporters and fierce critics.
As of October 2024, they were grandparents of 33 with three on the way.
Josh Duggar (m. Anna Keller)
Eldest Duggar child Josh Duggar was born March 3, 1988. He too became a conservative activist, campaigning for the Family Research Council.
He stepped down after old police records surfaced in 2015 revealing that he had been accused of molesting several girls, including his sisters Jessa Duggar and Jill Duggar, when he was a teenager. Jessa defended her brother in a sit-down with Fox News that June, insisting that the worst names people were calling Josh were "so overboard and a lie, really. I mean people get mad at me for saying that, but I can say this because I was one of the victims.
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