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Informationen zum Autor Jana, Jill, Jessa, and Jinger Duggar appear with the rest of their family on TLC’s 19 Kids and Counting, which airs five times a week and is now in its tenth season. The Duggars have appeared on such national TV shows as the Today show, Good Morning America, The View, Inside Edition, Jimmy Kimmel Live, and more. Klappentext A personal look inside America's favourite mega-sized family, the four eldest daughters talk about what it's like growing up a Duggar. Leseprobe Greetings From Our Hearts to Yours “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you,” saith the Lord, “thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.” —Jeremiah 29:11 We’ve written this book to have the conversation we wish we could have with each of you one-on-one. The conversation that may have begun with a letter or an e-mail you wrote to us, or the one that started with a question you asked or a comment you made after we spoke to a group somewhere. Maybe you’re that girl we met in the locked ward—we still call it the cage—in the orphanage in Central America. Jana sat with you there and shared your hope that someday you would see your mother again. Maybe you’re the single mom whose baby Jill helped deliver as an apprentice midwife. You smiled and nodded when Jill asked if it would be okay if she said a prayer for your newborn babe. You might be the mom who approached Jessa after we spoke at a women’s conference somewhere. You asked for ideas about how you could be more helpful and encouraging to your teenage daughter as she struggles with relationships involving boys. Or perhaps you’re the girl Jinger met while she was ministering at the juvenile detention center. You could hardly bring yourself to believe God could really forgive you. But Jinger assured you He can. And will. Maybe you’ve never met or contacted us at all, but you’ve seen our family’s show on television, and you’re curious. Whoever you are—whether you’re the girl we met who goes to a Christian school and attends church three times a week but is still struggling inside, or the girl with five tattoos and multiple piercings, the one whose parents sent you to the Christian girls retreat Jana works at, hoping you could be “fixed” there—we’ve written this book to continue the conversation we started with you but couldn’t finish because time ran out and we had to go our separate ways. And we’ve written this book because the volume of letters and e-mails that come to us is more than we can manage individually and because we know how it feels to be curious about something. We know how weird we must seem to a lot of you, with our different style of dressing and our conservative Christian beliefs. We know it’s unusual to be part of a family with nineteen children—one that’s featured on reality TV not for the outrageous things we do or say but for the adventures a family the size of ours can have doing ordinary activities. And we’re curious about you, too. We’d like to know how we can impact your life for good. Even though we have never met most of you reading this book, we want you to know we love you and care about your future. We want to share our stories with you, knowing you have a story, too, and hoping something we say here might empower you to use your story, your life, to help others. Racing Against Time Several years ago, before anyone outside our circle of friends and family had ever heard of the Duggars, our parents prayed, “Lord, we pray that our family can impact the world for You!” Mom and Dad look at life as a race against time. When they prayed that prayer, they were humbly asking God to keep each member of our family on the right track so that we might fulfill the purpose for which He created us, and that He would accomplish as much through us as possible during our time on earth. At that point, they prob...
