Pa. Couple That Lost 7 Kids In Fire Expecting Baby

Published February 2, 2012 5:27PM (EST)

LOYSVILLE, Pa. (AP) — Eleven months after losing seven children in a fire that tore through their Pennsylvania farmhouse, Ted and Janelle Clouse are expecting their 10th child.

A baby girl is due in June, the couple said.

"We've always believed we'll take what we're given," Ted Clouse told WHTM-TV in an article posted online Thursday.

The couple's eight children were all inside their Loysville home in Perry County when a late night fire broke out March 8. Now-4-year-old Leah was the only one to make it out.

Janelle Clouse, pregnant at the time, was working in the dairy barn nearby when her daughter alerted her to the fire. Ted Clouse was out making the rounds in his milk truck.

The home was soon engulfed in flames, claiming the lives of seven children ages 7 months to 11 years.

"It's when I'm by myself that I really think about it," Janelle Clouse said.

Three months after the fire, Janelle Clouse gave birth to the couple's ninth child, Gabriel.

"He's a blessing," Ted Clouse said.

The Clouses said they do not speak much of the fire, but Leah remembers her siblings, reeling off their names when shown pictures of Heidi, Christina, Isabelle, Brady, Hannah, Miranda and Samantha.

Sometimes it's difficult to move forward with all they've been through but Janelle Crouse said her two young children keep her going.

"You have your two children that you have to think about and your life just keeps going on," she said.

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Information from: WHTM-TV, http://www.whtm.com


By Salon Staff

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