Raising 15 children, Robert and Kati's unconditional trust in God has never failed them - meet their incredible story

During their 25 years of marriage, Kati and Robert have raised fifteen children, ages ranging from 9 to 25.

Robert Frank is, himself, the fifth-born child out of 16, and he looks to his parents as an example of trust in God – not just in words, but in practice. 

“I was impressed early on by the practical piety of my parents. They raised 16 children, and they entrusted all aspects of their lives to God.”

Conversely, Kati was raised as an only child. 

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“At the age of 26, I was already considered a spinster in my environment, because contrary to the spirit of the time, I neither had a boyfriend nor dated anyone, but I believed that God’s perfect plan for my life would be fulfilled. I was waiting to see who would be the one with whom our lives would point to God.”

They agreed that they won’t decide by themselves how many children to have, but put this question into the hand of God, saying: “For us, it is important that our life would be about the power of the creator to whom we surrender our lives.”

“God has given us an extraordinarily large family. We have realized this along the way. But it has been good to always rest in His will amid the struggles and to accept it with joy,” Kati says. “Raising children has taken a lot of effort, care and sleepless nights, but the many joys and blessings over the years have far outweighed the difficulties. The most important thing in raising our children has been to help them have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. We have tried to instill in them a love of music, and they use their musical talents in our wider family and in our church. We often make music together at home.”

Their grown children work or study in computer science, economics, language teaching, medicine and theology. Their first grandson, Ruben, was born recently.

Throughout their 25 years as a married couple, Robert and Kati’s unconditional trust in God has been tested many times. 

They had fears that arose during those 16 years, when a new child was born almost every 12 months. 

“If something happened to her, and my children lost their mother – How could I face them knowing they lost their mother? People have accused me of being cruel, putting my wife through this. There were a lot of inner dilemmas.” Robert said. “But we have been greatly encouraged by the biblical promise that the woman giving birth will be saved through childbirth if they remain in faith, love, and the temperance of a holy life. We want our amazing and unique story to give everyone the message that there is a God worth trusting.”

Kati is an English teacher at an elementary school, and Robert is a beekeeper. He learned the secrets of the trade from his grandfather, inherited his beehives and continued the family honey-production business, which has since expanded to some 300 beehives.

Over the decades, their beekeeping and honey business has been the primary source of income for the family. 

Until recently, when someone vandalized the beehives and killed all the bees, resulting in damages amounting to about $80,000. Robert and his family had to start over from zero to rebuild the honey business.

“God has always cared for us. He is the Prince of Peace,” Robert said. “He has helped us to find peace even in this situation. We aren’t desperate or depressed. We know that we’re guided by the same providence of God, so we don’t have to worry about the future or how we’ll meet the needs of our children. It is a challenge for us at the moment, but we have never been disappointed by God’s providence and love. As far as we have come to know Him so far, we never will.”

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