Eight at a time

Human Race | Ten years after a miracle birthday, the McCaughey family is getting back to normal | Lynn Vincent

One recent night, the McCaughey family gathered for dinner around the huge island in their Carlisle, Iowa, kitchen. Spaghetti was on the menu and young Joel McCaughey, 10, headed to the stove for seconds. As he dished up another plate, Joel regaled his family with a poem he'd read:

Spaghetti! Spaghetti!
You're wonderful stuff,
I love you spaghetti,
I can't get enough,
You're covered with sauce
And you're sprinkled with cheese,
Spaghetti! Spaghetti!
Oh, give me some please!

Joel's parents, Kenny and Bobbi, roared with laughter. His siblings, however, rained down catcalls: "Joel, that's stu-pid! That's not funny at all!"

The McCaughey home is like any other in America—but with a slightly larger peanut gallery. On Nov. 19, 1997, Mr. and Mrs. McCaughey and their daughter Mikayla, then almost 2, welcomed the world's first surviving septuplets. The miraculous birth riveted the world's attention, and the McCaugheys, who attend Missionary Baptist Church in Carlisle, were quick to credit God and their church family.