April 13, 2006

The Diel family are avid swimmers and regulars at the YMCA at Pabst Farms’ pool in Oconomowoc. Pictured are Jordan, Jonathon, Jessica, Diana, Sophia, Katherine, Caroline, Lydia and Grace. Mom, Diane, is kneeling down in front with Joseph on her lap. Dad, Jim and oldest child James are not pictured.

The number 13 appears to be lucky for the Diel family in Delafield. Just ask parents Jim and Diane, or their kids, James, 28, Jessica, 24, Jonathon, 21, Jordan, 16, Diana, 14, Lydia, 11, Sophia, 10, Grace, 8, Katherine and Caroline, 6 and Joseph, 3.

Size does not appear to be an issue for the tight-knit family, whose household is efficiently run, family members are healthy and most importantly happy. It would make any small family stand up and applaud.

To grasp how many years Diane Diel was pregnant or with a baby in her arms, she was 20 when she had James and 45 when she had Joseph — a quarter of a century. "When I had my first one it was a great experience and I thought one is just fine," Diane laughs. "It really has been a journey. I didn’t know they would all come from me!" she exclaims. Early in their marriage, Jim and Diane thought they would possibly adopt children instead of conceiving their own.

That whole idea was set aside after several pregnancies occurred.

The entire Diel family including son James (left) holding his baby with his wife sitting behind him, gathered for this family photo during the 2005 holiday season.

"This is an area of our lives where we are going to trust God," Diane says. "We’ve been blessed. They’ve all been healthy."

The couple began reading the Bible after experiencing some difficult times early in their marriage. "We started taking God at his word and in the Bible we read that children are a blessing," Diane explains.

Ten of the 11 children still live at home where all the kids are homeschooled. Diane is in charge of teaching and maintaining the household, while Jim is at work as president of Quincy Resource Group in Richfield.

The Diels felt their children would learn better socialization skills at home, rather than in the classroom. "Age integration is how they will really develop socially," says Diane.

"This environment is much more ‘real’ because they are interacting with all age groups," says Jim.

The school day runs from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Instead of a specific "school room" the family has a "school house," as Jim defines it, with each child having their own desk in various locations throughout the home.

A tutor helps out with Lydia and Sophia two days a week and organizes their work. She also answers questions their older sister Diana may have.

Diane generally works with Grace and the twins on their school work and keeps Joseph occupied during the school time.

"We really try to have the older kids self-motivate. When you learn it for yourself, it seems to stick better," Jim says. But, when any of the kids have questions, they go to Diane.

"They’re all pretty focused in general," he says.

Jessica is currently enrolled in a correspondence program through Clayton College of Natural Health where she is working toward her doctorate in naturopath.

The Diels not only like to homeschool their children, Diane also delivered six of their kids at home. The first three were born in the hospital, along with the twins who were delivered by Caesarian section. The remainder were home birthed. On average, Diane’s labors lasted four hours and she nursed each child about two years.

None of her pregnancies were planned, but having twins was a complete surprise.

The couple didn’t find out until the 27th week of pregnancy that Diane was carrying twins.

The experience of having twins was certainly new for the family. "It was hard. They didn’t sleep through the night for the first year," groans Diane.

"They looked so much the same, we couldn’t tell them apart," several family members chime in.

When the twins were born, Diane had a big nursing pillow she would lay them on so they could both nurse at the same time. "That’s pretty much all she did," Jim says. But the job didn’t end at that. Because Diane was nursing, the family had to constantly weigh the twins and check their diapers to make sure they were getting all the nutrition they needed.

Now with everyone a little older and out of diapers, the family follows a daily schedule that would make any efficiency expert proud.

It is not uncommon for suburban families to have crazy schedules, with one child running to soccer, while another has karate. Somewhere in the middle, parents are pulling their hair out and trying to find some "quality family time," which seems about as possible as climbing Mt. Everest.

So what about a family with 11 kids?

The Diels have the fortunate situation of everyone enjoying the same sport of swimming; therefore they can practice and compete together.

Swimming started out years ago for the family as something they could do for exercise in the winter. It grew from a winter outing to competing at the national level.

So far six of the kids have impressive resumés for their swimming careers.

•Jessica is a Masters State record holder and finished in the top 10 at USMS Short Course Nationals in 2005.

•Jordan is a YMCA national qualifier and a team record holder.

•Diana is a team record holder and finished in the top eight at the Long Course State Championship.

•Lydia is shooting to qualify for the 2006 Long Course State Championship.

•Sophia is a team record holder.

•Grace has A+ time standards.

The children are not the only ones who enjoy the water. Diane is also in the YMCA master swim program with several of her children and she swims three days a week.

Besides competing, Jessica coaches the Piranas swim team at the Pabst Farms YMCA two hours a day. Her sister Grace is on her team.

When the younger kids aren’t swimming they’re singing in the Children’s Choir of Waukesha. "My husband and I really thought it would be nice for them to be trained to sing. I think it is a huge benefit for them." And now Diane is directly involved. She began the mother/daughter choir, an offshoot of the main choir, and is performing with her daughters.

So a typical week at the Diel house includes swimming on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 5:30 a.m. for Diane, Jessica, Jordan and Diana. By the time Diane gets home from swimming, the younger kids have had their breakfast and are ready to start their school day.

At lunch time, Jessica usually does the cooking.

In the afternoon the kids finish up with their homework.

Joseph and the twins will take a nap and the rest have quiet time when they read.

By 3 p.m. the first of three waves leaves for swimming practice at the YMCA.

Then they have dinner and get ready for bed. Dinner time is generally later because the entire family likes to eat together every night.

Bath and bedtime is a daily ritual for Jim. He spends an hour to an hour and a half each night getting the six youngest ones ready for bed. "When I come home I try to interact with the kids," he says.

One night a week, he takes them to Bible study. The family are members of Crossroads Community Church in New Berlin.

After a long day, believe it or not, Jim and Diane do actually get some quality time together, even if it’s just sitting in the same room reading. They seem content with the time they share. "We know right now our responsibility is raising a family," Diane says.

"He wanted me to take up golf, but we do not have time for that." Diane explains it would stress her out to be sitting for several hours on a golf course with a house full of kids. Instead, they took up tennis. "It’s something we can do quickly," she laughs.

With this kind of hectic lifestyle, a vacation would appear to be in order, but the Diels’ vacations are few and far between. They took the entire family to Florida last year and once to northern Wisconsin. Most of the time Diane was either pregnant or had a baby so vacations were not possible.

The family also lived on Silver Lake for a while where Diane says, "It was vacation for three months of the year."

So how do the kids feel about being a part of the Diel clan? Joseph, 3, didn’t hesitate with his response when asked what it was like being the youngest of 11 children. "I want to be a big boy," he beams. He likes having Jordan, 16, around. No wonder, there are six girls sandwiched between Jordan and himself. Joseph seems perfectly content in the pecking order, though.

Grace, on the other hand, enjoys not being in Joseph’s position. "I like not being the youngest. Because if the twins were older they would boss me around," says Grace. "I also like having older brothers."

Grace had to think a while when asked what she liked most about having a big family, but when it came to what she didn’t like, she didn’t hesitate. "Oh, now that is so easy. I don’t like how they get their way and I don’t like sharing a room. Sometimes, I don’t like having all these sisters."

On the opposite end is Jessica, who has the title of eldest living under the Diel roof. One of her main jobs is cooking and buying the groceries for the family.

"It’s like feeding an army around here," says Jessica, who took over prepping the daily meals at some point. Every week Jessica makes the trip to Back to the Best Farm in Rubicon, where she buys the family’s milk and other organic food.

"It’s where we can get the best high quality food," explains Diane. She is a firm believer in going organic. "We rarely go to the doctor and we don’t have any allergies," she says.

A couple of years ago, Jessica lived and worked at The Institute of Basic Life Principles in the Chicago area. What was it like for her to live with only four roommates versus 12? "It was quiet," she says with a smile.

The oldest, James, is now married and has a child of his own. Diane loves being a grandparent despite having her own 3-year-old. "It’s wonderful. I can totally enjoy her, but we don’t have the true responsibilities of being a parent."

But a good portion of Diane and Jim Diel’s life revolves around their children. "I’m in the people business. There’s a level of stress dealing with all these personalities," she explains.

The couple appear to take the stress in stride and are quite used to answering a barrage of questions at any minute.

Jim and Diane seem quite content with the path their lives have taken. "Having all these people and personalities brings so much to my life. It’s a fuller life because of them," Diane says.

Full may be an understatement to some, but for the Diels it’s just another day.