Michelle & Jim Bob Duggar On Joe & Kendra’s Wedding: We Want 100 Grandkids, Be Fruitful And Multiply

Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar aren’t leaving any doubts about what they expect as they continue to marry off their adult children: grandkids. At least 100 of them, in fact. They’re so set on this that they’re even tying it into their congratulation videos to their newlywed kids now.

Joe Duggar married his fiance, Kendra Caldwell, on Friday. It has become a ritual for the family to release videos congratulating each member for every birthday, pregnancy, engagement, and wedding, posting these online for their viewers to see. They even post congratulation videos when a couple starts dating (which is done in a strict style the Duggars refer to as courtship, rather than dating.)

In the latest of these videos, however, posted Saturday evening by Michelle and Jim Bob to congratulate their son Joe and invite Kendra into the family, the focus shifted a little. Instead of simply wishing the couple well, the happy parents announced what they expect from them: grandkids. A lot of them. In fact, in another recent announcement, Jim Bob made it clear that he is counting on at least 100 grandkids.

In the video below, Jim Bob turns the congratulation video first into a discussion of his own marriage to Michelle, then to how he taught Michelle about the foundation for marriage. After Michelle congratulates the newlyweds and reminds them to use their marriage as a testimony to God, she brings up the kids she expects from Joe and Kendra.

“…you guys’ll be giving away on of your kids in marriage. We hope many many more grandbabies.”

Jim Bob goes on to emphasize this further:

“Some parting words — be fruitful and multiply!”

The latest Duggar to marry before Joe was Joy Anna, who wed Austin Forsyth only a few months ago and has already announced her first pregnancy. The most recent wedding before that was Jinger, who married Jeremy Vuolo in November, and whose lack of pregnancy has actually been featured on the family’s reality program.

It seems the pair, who have 19 kids of their own, is very serious, too, about their kids bringing many more into the world. In a recent post on the family’s website, Jim Bob described himself as the grandfather of “eight, going on a hundred.” Though the Duggar family often includes unborn children in their offspring count, in this case, he did not include the two grandchildren who are currently in utero. Aside from Joy, mentioned above, Josh Duggar and his wife Anna are also awaiting their next child, who will be their fifth, and the 9th grandchild in the family.

Mentions of Josh have been sparse since the reveal of his alleged molestation of several young girls cost the family their previous reality show, but the partial exile hasn’t extended to his children and wife.

In order to provide their parents with the requested 100 offspring, the Duggar kids would have to bring 5-6 kids into the world each. So far, Josh, as the eldest, is the only one who is approaching this goal. There has been speculation among viewers about whether some family members might refrain from having kids — Jana, who along with her twin John David, holds the position of second eldest, has not married, and at 27, fans doubt she’s likely to have time to have as many kids as Michelle Duggar. Meanwhile, there’s speculation about whether Jinger and Jeremy want to have kids, or whether they will choose to have a large family.

John David, too, might have different plans — at Joy Anna’s wedding, he declared himself a “bachelor ’til the rapture,” which, in a family and religion that doesn’t believe in extramarital sex, doesn’t sound like an intention to father 19 (or 5) more kids.

Including Jana and John David, there are five adult Duggar kids who aren’t yet married and haven’t announced a courtship or engagement. There are now six married couples, four of whom have begun to provide the 100-plus offspring their parents are demanding. Then there are eight kids left who are still under 18.

With that many kids raised in a belief system that focuses on birthing many children and raising them to be a holy army, it’s entirely possible Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar will indeed get the 100 grandkids they’re expecting, even if a few of their own kids don’t comply.

[Featured Image by Duggar Family/Instagram]