Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar, along with the rest of their famous family, took to Facebook over the weekend to welcome their 20th child.
And celebrate the young man’s birthday to boot.
While the news of Jim Bob and Michelle welcoming a 20th child has been circulating for awhile, this is a public confirmation of sorts.
And what better occasion in which to do so?
“Happy 9th Birthday Tyler!” Jim Bob wrote.
“We are so glad to have you in our home and a part of our family! Your bright smile and sweet spirit brings much joy to us all!”
The above picture shows Jim Bob and Michelle out to eat with Tyler, Jackson Duggar, Michelle sister Carol and Jim’s mother Mary.
Tyler, the son of Michelle’s niece Rachel Hutchins, officially became the 20th child of the enormous Duggar family back in November.
Four months earlier, he moved in with them.
When you have 19 kids, some will vary in age by a lot.
As a result, the nine-year-old has found a great new friend (or sibling, if you will) in Jackson, according to the Duggars’ post.
“Jackson loves having a ‘little brother/cousin’ to ride bikes and play with and read your Bibles together,” said the happy family.
“Our prayer is that each day you will seek God’s will for your life, and that God will use your life in a great way,” they added.
“We pray over you that one of your first memory verses from the Bible will be lived out through your life!”
“Love, Aunt Michelle & Uncle Jim Bob.”
It’s been a rough life at times so far for the youngster, and whatever you think of the Duggars, they are doing a very good deed here.
An Arkansas judge recently granted a request made by Jim Bob and Michelle to become the permanent guardians of their grand-nephew.
Stating in his ruling that it was in the “best interest” of the child, the judge made permanent an arrangement already borne out of necessity.
The Duggars took in the boy after his “unemployed and homeless” mother (with Tyler, pictured above) struggled to properly care for him.
“Jim Bob and Michelle have made the child feel right at home. They treat him like their own and he looks up to them as parents,” a source said.
The boy’s mother is also able to have supervised visits with her son at the Duggar’s home; Hutchins supported the Duggars’ bid to adopt.
Rachel has battled addiction and is on probation for three years after being arrested this past April on felony charges of breaking and entering.
Hutchins, pictured above with Jinger Duggar, is “a good person, but she’s made some bad decisions,” an insider previously told In Touch.
Currently engaged to a man named Michael Wright according to her Facebook page, she gave birth to her son as an unwed teenager.
Rachel first gave up custody in August 2015, months before her arrest, to Michelle’s sister Carolyn, who was initially Tyler’s guardian.
Then she suffered a setback in the form of a stroke in 2016.
After Carolyn was unable to care for the boy, the Duggar family – who know Rachel and Tyler well – stepped in to take on the responsibility.
Michelle, having given birth to a stillborn daughter named Jubilee Shalom in December 2011, has long spoken of having a 20th child.
Now, in the most unexpected of ways, she has one.
If the family’s recent scandals were an issue for court when reviewing the request for guardianship, it didn’t derail their efforts ultimately.
That and Josh’s infidelity scandal, which led to myriad Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar divorce rumors, caused the family a lot of heartache.
That all seems to be behind the Duggars these days, with the couple having turned a page in more ways than one over the past year.
A source close to the family reports that with Tyler:
“Jim Bob and Michelle couldn’t be happier now.”
