It has been a full week since the twins, Havilah and Joshua, were born. Twins are fascinating. We have not had multiples before October 23, 2005. This was Wendy’s 12th delivery.

Twins have never known any different. They have always had a companion by their side. I can only think that our relationship with Christ is similar: wherever we go, we will know that we are Sons of God in a heartfelt way.

Twins are also a reminder to my children how nice it is to have large family. Lydia (11) and I reflected on this while feeding the twins from a bottle. My kids know little loneliness. There is so much security in a large family. My kids always know companionship in each other.

We’re going to be taking pictures of our 1-week old twins and posting them later. Till then, God bless your family!

The Jeubs were expecting their 12th child, but low-and-behold: a bakers dozen was in their future. On October 23, 2005, the Jeubs welcomed Havilah Grace and Joshua Matthew into the world. Born almost two hours apart, here is their photo: Read the rest of this entry »

We are praising God for the delivery of healthy twins! Havilah Grace came at 8:04 a.m. and Joshua Matthew followed at 10:07. Wendy is doing great and the babies are very healthy.

We will be posting a Web page with all information very soon, but till then, here is a picture our church posted:

Click Here to See the Twins

We’ve published quite a bit over the years, and Wendy and I are in the process of reformatting and gaining permissions for reprinting articles from the past. Many articles are from the days I was an editor at Focus on the Family. I’ve been working with the legal department over there to gain permission to re-publish some articles that I wrote way-back-when as their employee.

One particularly fits this Web site: The Large-Family Phenomenon. This article interviews five families who value children as a heritage from the Lord. The article is interesting, though, because it doesn’t assume that a large family is what the Lord wills for everyone. Two of the five families have 3 children, and their convictions are no different than the other three families (of 11, 13 and 16).

Another group of interviews is of three rock stars: TobyMac from DC Talk, Phil Joel from Newsboys, and Will McGinniss from Audio Adrenaline. All three had their first child in 2001-2002, being (at the time) the only fathers in their bands. Fatherhood transformed them–as it does to all of us fathers. Enjoy this 3-part article:

• Will McGinniss (Audio Adrenaline)
• Phil Joel (Newsboys)
• Toby McKeehan (TC Talk)

I hope these articles bless you and your families. We will be posting some more in the future.

Fox News has posted a great article on the Duggar Family from Arkansas who has delivered their 16th child (“Arkansas Woman Gives Birth to 16th Child”). The article is surprisingly well balanced and positive. The common thread between most large families is their steadfast love for God and His blessings:

“We both just love children and we consider each a blessing from the Lord. I have asked Michelle if she wants more and she said yes, if the Lord wants to give us some she will accept them,” [father Bob Duggar] said.

Funny, I got grilled this morning from a friend who “pulled me aside” and let me know that Wendy’s body just ain’t built to have a 12th child. In good faith, he let me know that perhaps I should stop after our baby comes in November. After all, conventional wisdom says that a woman’s body isn’t made to have children.

“Okay, okay,” I told him, “You’ve had your peace!” He was a friend (don’t worry, he’s still a friend) who was sharing a concern, and I am glad he loved me enough to verbalize it.

But I totally disagree. A woman’s body (especially people like my wife and Mrs. Duggar) is obviously made to have babies! It may be conventional wisdom, but it is wrong. Notice Mrs. Duggar’s dependency: it is on the wisdom of God, not on man. “Conventional wisdom” consists of a modern OBGYN medical field that typically scare women out of having babies, treating delivery like emergencies and babies like cancers that need to be removed.

Humph, don’t get me started. The living proof is incredible. I know many, many large families, and I can’t think of one mother of more than, say, six kids who is suffering from ill health due to having babies. To prove my point, here is a picture of another mother of 16, Miriam Heppner of Minnesota, and her brood:

Can you tell which one is the mom? Her oldest daughter (far right) looks older than her mom! The “conventional” wisdom says that birthing children drains the health of the mother, and nothing is further than the truth. And this is not just an anecdotal argument (meaning that I am simply privileged in knowing healthy mothers of many children). Let me turn the argument on the believers of “conventional” wisdom: I have yet to see a scientific study that shows child delivery to exhaust a woman’s body. As a matter of fact, I have yet to meet someone who has an anecdotal argument of knowing an unhealthy mother-of-many.

Sure, delivery is painful and it is difficult, but God has created the female body to bounce back incredibly well. When asked if she will have any more children, Mrs. Duggar says she will if the Lord will it. Great answer, one with the right perspective. Remember the perspective: children are a blessing from God. While my friend knows this in his heart, he has fallen for the “conventional” idea that God’s creation has somehow fallen short in allowing these blessings to come.

I don’t agree, and I have yet to be served an argument that proves otherwise. Meanwhile, I retreat to my large family of blessings–11 children and another on the way–a life of joy, challenge and reward.

View the Duggar family on the Discovery Channel.

Here’s for another political blog posting. A Washington Times article (“What the War Is All About”) correctly defines Roe v Wade as criminal. There are many reasons for this. The most unpopular reason is because Roe has justified the relentless murder of millions of babies since 1973. This is too much of a truth for most to swallow, but a much more persuasive reason Roe is criminal is a democratic one, as William Murchison writes:

The very ambiguity of these times and controversies goes far toward showing us the court’s crime in Roe. Crime, yes — the crime of setting Americans against each other and of unhealthily diverting their energies and passions. This is what you get into when you call on courts to short circuit the deliberative processes of democracy.

Roe v Wade is a crime. It pits American against American in the courts rather than at the voting box. This is often tagged as America’s most “emotional” issue. One reason (as already stated) is because of the ultimate result of an abortion: the death of a human being. The second reason is one that painfully aborts fundamental democratic rights to influence through legislative processes.

President Reagan gave a riveting speech at the 10th anniversary of the Roe decision where he stated, “We have the duty to protect the life of the unborn child” (Washington, D.C., 1983). Reagan didn’t succeed in overturning Roe v Wade, but today President Bush has the chance. Reagan didn’t succeed in passing legislation reversing Roe, but Bush has the ability to reverse Roe with his court appointments.

That’s why Miers (and Roberts, but that’s history now) is so important. If she and Roberts are legally professional enough to recognize how important it is to remove Roe as a precedent in our legal system, then Bush could be laying the framework that will ultimately save our democracy. If not, he will be appointing another 30-40 years of frustration in our democracy, pitting passionate citizens against one another with a tyrannous Supreme Court.

The nomination of Harriet Miers for Supreme Court Justice has raised many hairs of Prolife supporters who specifically voted for George W. Bush for the sole purpose of appointing prolife judges. The Jeub Family believes that the 1973 ruling Roe v Wade not only shot this country into a bloody 33 years of abortion on demand, but has adulterated the highest courts to read into the Constitution whatever black-robed justices feel. This is why strict Constitutionalists should be the only appointments: judges who see that LIFE, liberty and the pursuit of happiness is defended, not justified to be taken.

Is Harriet Miers prolife? President Bush says he has no litmus test. She supported Al Gore in 1988, but Al Gore (at the time) was a prolife candidate. In fact, the Sun Herald reports that Miers is on the “extreme end” of the prolife movement. She led the charge to persuade the National Bar Association to remove its pro-choice political stand (Miers Led Bid to Revisit Abortion Stance). One of the most convincing defenders of Miers is Jay Sekulow from the American Center for Law & Justice:

She’s the first female president of the Texas Bar Association. She took on the American Bar Association when they came out with their pro-abortion policy back in the mid-1990s. I was involved in that fight. She took a very courageous and not very politically correct move at the time, and that took a lot of courage.

Still, many conservatives like George Will and David Frum vehemently disagree with President Bush’s decision. Their arguments run along these lines: the President promised conservative appointments, but we don’t feel she’s conservative.

The scrutiny over Miers’ past leads me to an article that I wrote for Focus on the Family two years ago. Our son, Josiah, was displayed on an ultrasound for a new ministry put out by Focus on the Family. Wendy sat behind a curtain in the back while an ultrasound showed the physical truth for the audience of 1300–and later for millions listening to the Broadcast. This was life, and our country is aborting lives like these.

If Miers is prolife, then I hope and pray that she is one Justice who will recognize that the Constitution of the United States protects all life–including the unborn. Minds can change (as mine has over the years), but someone who has consistently defended the lives of the unborn for 30 years in a pro-abortion legal culture–whether or not they gave money to a candidate who turned on the prolife movement–takes guts and conviction.

Dr. James C. Dobson hosted the Extreme Makeover: Home Edition family I commented on a few days ago (click here). Read the full article from Family.org:

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition Update – The Barretts Visit Focus on the Family!

A local family from Peyton, Colorado, was recently featured on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. This home school family of six children—two biological and four adopted out of foster care—are enjoying a 3,800-square-foot house built by Extreme Makeover and area contractors.

The episode aired last night but a slide show can be viewed at the Extreme Makeover Web site.

Read all about it from the Gazette’s newspaper site at http://www.gazette.com/display.php?id=1310928&secid=17.

A client of mine, Stauffer & Sons Construction, was a sponsor of this event. Ron (father of 9) and Andy (father of 3) joined Extreme Makeover to add framing know-how to the construction. It was quite a community project! (See Colorado Timber Homes.)