Meeting Jon and Kate

This past Sat night, Jim and I were blessed to meet Jon and Kate of Discovery Health and TLC's "Jon and Kate Plus 8" tv show. In case you aren't familiar with them, here is a very brief introduction: Jon and Kate wanted children but faced infertility issues. With medical help and the will of God, they were able to bring beautiful twin girls into the world. When their daughters were about 3, they decided they would like to try for one more. They got more than they bargained for as God saw fit to bless them with sextuplets! 2+6=8 Jon and Kate plus 8! So the tv show follows their lives with 8 young children (the twins are 6 and I think the little ones recently turned 3).

Jon and Kate were in town for a 3-session speaking engagement at Farragut Fellowship. My sister had called over a month ago and told me about it, but we were also invited by Doug, one of the ministers at Farragut Fellowship and a friend and former co-worker of Jim's. We were able to go thanks to Jeanette and Wanda who generously agreed to watch the kids for us.

Jon and Kate spoke about the many ways God has worked in their lives and blessed them throughout the struggles and trials they have faced becoming a family of 10. They shared the lessons they have learned, mainly about how God is in control and we have to stop trying to take that control away from Him and trust in His will for our lives. This is a side of their lives that they don't really have an opportunity to share on their show, but it is so important to them, so they were very pleased to have the chance to travel and speak to people about God's blessings.

Jim and I both really enjoyed and benefited from what they had to say. Not only were they an encouragement to us spiritually, but we also enjoyed the personal stories they had to tell, especially when so many of them echoed our own struggles--the decision not to reduce the number of babies in the womb, struggles with understanding God's decision to give us so many babies at once, worries about the future, financial strain, etc. So many of their issues have also been our issues!

In addition to the talk they gave, there was also a question-and-answer period, followed by a meet-and-greet where we actually got to have a little chat with Jon and Kate. They were very personable and open. I felt like we could easily have talked with them all night, although I'm sure they long line of people behind us would not have appreciated it! We gave them a picture of our kids and the blog address, which they seemed genuinely interested in. So who knows, they might even leave a comment!

It was really a wonderful experience! If any of you ever have an opportunity to hear them speak, you should definitely go! They were great!