Duggar Girls on Being 'Normal'

Livy, one of our readers, shared an interview with us that she did with the four oldest Duggar girls for Crown of Beauty, an online magazine. Here are the highlights (click here to read the full interview):

Livy kicked off the interview by asking the sisters to describe one another:

Jill: "I'll start with Jana. Jana is 24, and she is the oldest of the girls. She's kind of a quiet personality whenever she's around other people. At home she'll talk more, but she's kinda more quiet and reserved. And yet she can get a lot accomplished pretty fast, like she's got that first-born tendency to be able to organize the troops when she needs to! So that's Jana."

Jana: "Jill. She is our fourth born. She is very fun loving and caring, and wants to disciple young ladies. She's always holding babies, she's a student midwife right now, so she is hopefully going to get her midwifery license within the next year or two. She's the one who helps with a lot of things around the house, she has a number of things that she does. Number one, helping with the music when we go and sing and play at different places for different events. She's the one who helps us get it all together, and makes sure we sound good. Jill is a lot of fun!"

Jinger: "I'll describe Jessa. She is a very organized person, so she keeps our house free from clutter. She is really good at playing guitar. She's done some prison ministry. She and I just got back from prisons in Florida, and so that was really, really exciting, just ministering to the inmates there. So she has a heart for reaching out to younger girls and really just coming alongside them, and ministering to them."

Jessa: "Jinger is a super spunky personality. Very fun-loving, definitely has a true servant's heart. She's always looking for ways to serve others, and is a huge blessing to those around her. We've had the opportunity to serve together in prisons, and even locally in our juvenile detention center. And yeah, she just has a huge heart for others."

Jessa explained the girls' reasons for writing Growing Up Duggar. In addition to answering questions from viewers, they also wanted to show that they are a normal family.

Jessa: "People sometimes look at our family and say, 'Well you just don't have the same challenges and struggles that we do.' Sometimes they think we're perfect or something! But we're not.
So we wanted to let people know... just think of the challenges you have in a family of two or three, then multiply that about ten times over!"

"'We have sibling quarrels and times we don't get along, but what we wanted to do was share some of those stories and share the principles we've found from the Bible, that have helped us work those things out, and keep our family relationships strong."

Livy: "Was writing this book a dream that any of you had as little girls?"

Jessa: “I don't really ever remember saying, 'Hey, I think we should write a book someday!' Our parents have written a couple books, and we had seen that process, so we knew it was a lot of work, and I think we were all kind of shying away from it. We kept being approached by friends, and people asking us if we would share our stories and probably in a book form. So we typed some things up, then thought, 'We really should just do this.' Before we all get married and go on our way and we're not together anymore."

Jill: “Yeah, and having come out of our teen years, we felt like this was a perfect time to be able to encourage other young ladies..."

Jessa: "Just like any other girl, we've all struggled with thinking, 'Oh, I'm not beautiful, I'm not loved....' And it's not a one time fix. It's a daily struggle. And even among us sisters, just comparing ourselves or saying, 'Oh your outfit is way cuter than mine!' Or just these feelings of 'you're ugly,' or whatever it may be, are lies the devil really throws at you, and so we talk about how we've been able to overcome those things in our lives by going to God's Word and what He says about us." We're not a mistake, none of our physical features, none of our design is a mistake."

Duggar Girls on Being 'Normal'Duggar Girls on Being 'Normal'