Outnumbered!: Raising 13 Kids with Humor and Prayer

To outsiders, the Kuharski family life sometimes looked like controlled chaos. With 13 kids seven by birth, six by airport (adopted) it sometimes felt that way to family members, too.

There were those vacations when the entire family jammed into one motel room.
There were the excuses: Kari told me she wanted her hair cut that short. Dominic told me the cement was dry. Tony said that Grandma said there wasn't any poison ivy in that area. And, from a child playing with matches in the basement: I didn t know the newspapers would catch fire so quickly and spread to the paint cans.
There were the challenges of adopting special needs children and the heartbreak of watching some of those children fail to adapt.

Through it all, by the grace of God, much prayer and lots of common sense, the family became an oasis of stability and love. Whether your family is big or small, whether you have young children, old children, grandchildren or no children, Outnumbered! will bring you to a place at a very special family table.

MARY ANN KUHARSKI is a homemaker, columnist and author of several books including Building a Legacy of Love. She is president of ProLife Across America (The Billboard People) and an advisory board member of the National Council for Adoption. She and her husband, John, live in Minneapolis and have 13 children and 12 grandchildren and were founding members of ProLife Across America.