aussiegran
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Cradled delicately in Vladimir Chernenko's thick arms was his baby, David, whose birth on December 7 gave the Ukrainian-American family the largest brood in the United States, according to the Russian language newspaper The Speaker.
"When we got married back in the Ukraine, for six month we had no children and thought we wouldn't have any kids at all," Vladimir told reporters at a celebration in Bethany Slavic Missionary Church in Sacramento.
"I never thought I would have such a family."
Vladimir said he was serving in the Ukrainian army when his wife wrote in a letter that she was pregnant.
"I said how could this happen, me in the army and she is at home pregnant?" he recalled with a laugh. "I was young then and didn't take into account we had lived together a while."
The family emigrated and settled in California seven years ago, the couple said. Vladimir is a security and maintenance worker for a charter school and the family lives in a seven-room house in Sacramento.
"It's a lot of work, and we all get tired, and it's difficult from financial point of view," Zynaida Chernenko conceded when asked if having such a large family was difficult.
"But, we overcome the fear by looking forward to our children with love."
The children, the eldest of which is 22, share duties and responsibilities, with the older ones filling in for their parents at times, the mother said.
"It takes a great deal of work to raise all of the children, on each level," Vladimir said. "Education and upbringing plays a large role, but the most important thing is love and a big heart."
It also helps to have a 15-seat mini-van and a huge dinner table, the family confided.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20051216/lf_afp/afplifestyleusukraine;_ylt=AkuVGhmeL6mML865.gEvmWes0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3ODdxdHBhBHNlYwM5NjQ-
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17 kids and they sound like they were all single births .the food bill must be Huge
"When we got married back in the Ukraine, for six month we had no children and thought we wouldn't have any kids at all," Vladimir told reporters at a celebration in Bethany Slavic Missionary Church in Sacramento.
"I never thought I would have such a family."
Vladimir said he was serving in the Ukrainian army when his wife wrote in a letter that she was pregnant.
"I said how could this happen, me in the army and she is at home pregnant?" he recalled with a laugh. "I was young then and didn't take into account we had lived together a while."
The family emigrated and settled in California seven years ago, the couple said. Vladimir is a security and maintenance worker for a charter school and the family lives in a seven-room house in Sacramento.
"It's a lot of work, and we all get tired, and it's difficult from financial point of view," Zynaida Chernenko conceded when asked if having such a large family was difficult.
"But, we overcome the fear by looking forward to our children with love."
The children, the eldest of which is 22, share duties and responsibilities, with the older ones filling in for their parents at times, the mother said.
"It takes a great deal of work to raise all of the children, on each level," Vladimir said. "Education and upbringing plays a large role, but the most important thing is love and a big heart."
It also helps to have a 15-seat mini-van and a huge dinner table, the family confided.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20051216/lf_afp/afplifestyleusukraine;_ylt=AkuVGhmeL6mML865.gEvmWes0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3ODdxdHBhBHNlYwM5NjQ-
>>>>>>>>>>>
17 kids and they sound like they were all single births .the food bill must be Huge
