'Jana's Secret Garden' Recap

Counting On "Jana's Secret Garden"

• Jessa has Anna, Abbie, Kendra, and Lauren over to eat and chat about raising daughters. Kendra brings a recipe for lactation cookies, and Anna brings the ingredients to make homemade baby soap. 
• Kendra shares that she was only able to nurse Garrett for a few months before having to supplement formula. He had lip and tongue tie, which affected her supply. “You just kind of feel bad because you’re like, ‘I’m not able to do this for my child, even though this is what I wanted and I know this is what’s best,’” says Kendra. “You just kind of have all of this…guilt, and there’s nothing wrong with it. As long as they’re being fed and they’re healthy, you’re doing your job.”
• Later, John flies Abbie, Jana, and Grace to Knoxville for a short trip. Jana and John take a woodworking class. “Over the years, Jana has done a lot of home renovation projects,” says John. Jana makes a classy sign that says “Home, Springdale, AR” with the Arkansas state outline. 
• Jana is starting an online business called Arbor Acres and is hoping to sell home items. “It’s still in the beginning stages,” she says.
• “She probably is the first girl, daughter that’s really ventured out to do a business like that,” says Michelle. 
• “Matter of fact, she’s probably done more than most of us guys here by starting this pretty big endeavor she’s taking on,” says John.
• Also in Knoxville, Abbie goes with Jana to get her hair done. The stylist asks Jana about her love life. “Sometimes it gets a little old,” says Jana in an interview, of being asked if she’s in a relationship. “I feel like we do this whole groupings of the marrieds and the singles, and we forget that, oh wait, we’re all sisters, we’re all brothers and sisters. And so keeping that focus, it makes it more enjoyable and it’s not this whole awkward, oh, I’m not one of y’all. It’s like, no, we’re family.”
• Abbie can relate to Jana because she was the oldest single child left at home before marrying John.
• People often ask Jana if she is just really picky. “I used to be a little more strict,” she says. She has always thought that she wanted a guy who would stay in Arkansas, but she now realizes that that is not a necessity. “…If I really love the guy, I’ll follow him to the ends of the earth. I’ll want to go wherever he is. And so far, I just haven’t found that one.”
• “…If the right one had come along, I would have been married, ya, a long time ago,” says Jana. “I just don’t think that it’s been God’s timing yet, and I have been able to accomplish a lot of other things that maybe I wouldn’t have had I been married.”
• Back at home, Jim Bob and the boys put together a glass greenhouse as a surprise for Jana. Their contractor friend lends a hand. “Several of the boys have actually kind of surpassed me in my knowledge of building skills,” says Jim Bob. Installing the glass is the hardest part, and the work crew wonders if they will finish it in time. 
• They complete the job at the last minute. Jim Bob is in communication with John, as the rest of the family scrambles to set up food and balloons. John and Abbie lead Jana into the backyard, where she sees the greenhouse. Everyone jumps out from behind a big tree. The family agrees that Jana is not usually an emotional person, but this surprise brings her to tears.
• “Jana deserves so much more than just a greenhouse,” says John. “She’s somebody who is a giver, giver. [She] gives of her time, of her assets, of just all of herself to everybody all the time.”
• “I’m just blown away by their love,” says Jana.