Though they are often criticized for having too many children, they do not regret it. "The more the merrier as far as I’m concerned," the mother said.
The human body is beyond amazing and it is capable of wonderful things! Take 36-year-old Courtney Rogers, for example. The woman, who got married to her pastor husband Chris, 32, in October 2008, gave birth to their first child two years later. Since then, she's been pregnant every year and is now a mother to 11 kids. Courtney, who met Chris through a mutual friend in 2007 at church camp, says she's eagerly looking forward to birthing more children.
"We want to have more if we can," said Courtney. "We want to have 12 children, a family of 14 even." According to Daily Mail, the woman from Santa Fe County, New Mexico, says the longest she's gone without being pregnant is nine months.
The Rogers' are parents to six boys and five girls, with the youngest of the lot being born in November 2020. They are Clint, 11, Clay, nine, Cade, eight, Callie, seven, Cash, six, twins Colt and Case, five, Calena, four, Caydie, two, Coralee, 23 months, and Caris, six months. The couple home-school their kids on their 12-acre farm in Santa Fe County, New Mexico.
"I love having them with me all the time and seeing them learn and knowing what they are learning," said Courtney. "I can adapt the lessons to each child and I don't have to make them sit for hours all day. I love how it's flexible and the kids can run around outside or feed the lambs between lessons."
"I'm more like a tutor. I'll set the children to work to do and they will come up to me and ask me questions about it. I've often got a baby in my arms, or I'm changing a nappy and I'll have four kids queuing up to ask me a maths question," she added.
As Courtney and Chris were homeschooled as well, they insist this is the best way to educate their children. Large families aren't new to the couple as Chris is the eldest of 10 children. Courtney, also, is the eldest of six children. “My husband is the eldest of 10, so before we got married, he joked about having as many as his mom had," shared Courtney, according to The Sun.
Their plan to grow as a family doesn't come cheap. Their monthly food shops cost $1,200 and they use a 15-seater van to get around. The kids wear hand-me-down clothes and Courtney never misses a good sale. Earlier this year, the family had to cut out on several activities such as eating out and making unnecessary purchases, as that would cost them well over $1,000 a month to make ends meet.
Courtney and Chris also sacrifice getting each other gifts for Christmas and instead spend $100 on each of their kids. “The kids want us to be like the film Cheaper by the Dozen, where the parents compromise their careers to raise 12 children. Having several kids in diapers at once and having lots of strollers – this is normal life to us," she said. Despite such hardships, they take a yearly camping trip and visit their family that lives in Georgia. This week-long vacation with the travel and other expenses costs them $1,000.
While Chris is a pastor, Courtney is a stay-at-home mom. She sometimes teaches local kids at Sunday school in the church. Along with the kids, they also have to tend to their farm that houses two bottle-fed lambs, dogs, and chickens. They are often criticized for having so many children so close to each other.
“The people who ask how I can give all my kids enough attention are usually those who send their kids off to school," Courtney shot back. "I do not understand their logic when I am around my kids 24 hours a day.” She has had seven vaginal births and two C-sections, one of which was to twins.
She has also sadly had two miscarriages. "I love being pregnant. I love growing another person inside me, thinking about what they will be like and picking out names," she said, adding that though things may get hard at times, she has no regrets about her family. “I do not regret having so many children – the more the merrier as far as I’m concerned."
References:
https://www.thesun.co.uk/fabulous/11417226/mum-11-kids-homeschool-monthly-spend-2/
Cover Image Source: Instagram/ Courtney Rogers (@littlehouseinthehighdesert)
