Description
A woman with 13 siblings says they got through 35 loads of laundry a week and now refuse to live more than 30 minutes apart so they don't "miss" each other.Sarah Van Reeth, 24, grew up surrounded by her big family and is “best friends” with all her brothers and sisters.She has seven brothers – Ryan, who passed away aged 25, Matt, 30, Josh, 27, Nate, 25, Mike, 21, Jon, 18, and Andrew, 15.Sarah also has six sisters – Meghan, 29, Becca, 22, Nicole, 19, Emily, 16, Danielle, 14, and Laurel, seven.The older siblings still live within 30 minutes of their family home in New Hope, Pennsylvania, US, and see each other once a week at church.Sarah says her mum, Kim Wilson, 59, cooked for them all growing up and did up to five loads of laundry every day.Sarah, a PE teacher, who lives in Hamilton, New Jersey, with her husband, Mark Van Reeth, 25, said: “It was so fun growing up.“We’re all best friends.“Everyone is within 30 minutes of our parents.”Kim and Cuck Wilson, 60, a pastor, had always wanted a big family but hadn’t expected to end up with 13 children. Sarah said: “They wanted a good amount but God kept giving them more kids.”The family adopted Laurel, seven, when their son Ryan, 25, passed away, giving them 14 children.Growing up the family had six bedrooms and they each shared a room.Sarah said: “Everyone shared a room growing up.“I didn’t have my own bed until college.“I didn’t like being alone.“The hardest part was being away from my siblings.”Sarah said her mum still managed to cook for them all every night – and she says they still do when they all reunite.She said: “My mum is a superhero.“She made us all dinner. She did all the laundry – four to five loads a day.“She can multi-task.”Sarah married Mark, who works in video production, in August 2022 and the pair moved in together.Sarah said: “I don’t like being alone now. It’s really quiet.”The siblings have never got each other presents for their birthdays – so the cost isn’t too high – and do a secret Santa at Christmas instead of gifting lots of individual presents to everyone.Sarah said: “We’re not a presents kind of family.”The family all still go on holiday together for the 4th July and see each other on set days around Christmas and Thanksgiving.Sarah says strangers thinking having so many siblings must be “horrible”.She said: “It’s not like a circus.“I’d never change anything about our childhood.“We operated as a very normal family.”Sarah loves being able to hang out with her younger siblings, six nieces and nephews and older brothers and sisters.She hopes to have a large family herself one day.Sarah said: “We all prioritise seeing each other.“I definitely want a big family – probably about four or five kids.”