What would a family of 16 be termed if many people consider a family of five or six to be a “large family”? The majority of us have only ever seen large families in movies like Cheaper By The Dozen. We have a general understanding of what it could be like to have so many children living under one roof from the film. But that is the way the Hernadez family must live every day.
With 15 children already, Patty Hernandez, 38, and Carlos, 37, are already parents. However, they are about to welcome their 16th child! And Even though they have a large family, the mother says she would welcome more children.
Children are a gift from the Lord because they fill a family with so much joy and happiness and make them feel whole. But for individuals with large families who need all the support they can get to care for them, it may occasionally be a stressful experience.
For the Hernadez family, the couple must spend more than $500 each week just to purchase the food for their family as well as other necessities like diapers, their five-bedroom house also contains a nursery with five cribs, and they’ll need a bigger car now that their family has outgrown their sixteen-seater bus. They will soon need to consider purchasing one.
Carlos comes from a family of twins. They have three sets of twins out of their fifteen offspring. Like their father, every child’s name starts with the letter “C.” Carlos works as a floor cleaner to keep up with the bills, although the family continues to grow.
The kids from the eldest to the youngest are Carlos Jr, 12, Christopher, 11, Carla, nine, Caitlyn, nine, Cristian, eight, Celeste, seven, Cristina, six, Calvin, five, Catherine, five, Carol, four, Caleb, three, Caroline, three, Camilla, two, Charlie, one and Crystal, four months. The youngest of the brood will be a baby girl due to join them in May 2021. In April 2020, right before the epidemic, their newest kid was born. A few months later, Patty became pregnant once more.
“It is a bit more stressful and difficult with a newborn, the babies are always crying and I have to take care of them. But it is a blessing, we enjoy it. We have left everything to God so whatever God wants to give us we will be happy. We don’t use contraception,“ Patty admitted, saying she isn’t afraid to talk about becoming a mother. She acknowledges that managing the home is stressful. She wants more kids though, and she’s curious to see where life leads her and her family.
At her house, everything is “always crazy at her house,” Patty remarked. She has been pregnant for more than ten years since she has given birth to fifteen children since 2008.
“Right now I have a thousand clothes to wash – that’s at least five hours of folding clothes every two days. I do laundry at least four times a week,” she explained. “When the kids play, they often leave toys on the floor so I need to clean that up too. I try to give them a daily routine to clean up after themselves. They have their own chores. The older one makes his own pancakes sometimes, but most of the time I am the one doing the cooking.” But despite the hardships, they are one big happy family.
Sources: AWM, Ghgossip, Godupdates
