Gotcha Day!

I rarely do a personal post, but today it is all about our family!  On this day twenty years ago, we doubled the number of our children by adopting four kids to add to the four we already had.  It has been a wild ride and today we celebrate Gotcha Day (the day we got’cha).  I am beyond proud of the things all eight of my kids have overcome to be the people they are today.

Back in early 1998 we were quite sure our family was complete with four daughters aged 1,3, 8, and 11….but little did we know….

This is Our Story

       In January of 1998, we were unexpectedly able to pay off the remainder of our house payments. We knew it would be easy to just blow that extra money each month, so we began to pray for the best use of it to become apparent to us.  We thought maybe we could use it to support a missionary or some other ministry.

Instead, in March of that same year we each heard separately about a family of four children that needed a home. Don was convicted, but didn’t want to mention anything to Kayann because we already had four children, and some looming medical issues.  He told God that if He wanted us to adopt the kids, He was going to have to ask me Himself.  Meanwhile, unknown to Don,  Kayann also heard about the four kids and spent days trying to dismiss the idea as crazy.  Finally, unable to shake her feelings about the children, she approached Don, knowing that he would readily nix the idea…. And of course just the opposite actually happened! He made the phone call right on the spot that changed our lives, and the lives of all eight of our children forever.

God continued to put this family together quickly.  In April we saw the kids for the first time and by May were doing weekend visits.  Our church family was scurrying to prepare our home for more inhabitants. Once school was out we were granted legal custody and they moved in with us on Memorial Day weekend.  The first thing we did was go out and have a picture taken of all eight kids.

We spent the summer trying to adjust (and survive!) our new family grouping.  Mid July we took a family vacation to a place none of us had been before.

There is nothing like camping to bond a family! At the end of the camping trip we headed to Liberal where on July 20,1998 Judge Tom Webb declared our adoption final. That was just 6 short months after our initial prayer offering up that “extra” money. It seems that God’s answer was “Yes, I’ll take that money… and all of the rest of yourselves as well!”

It has been a journey that involved many, many other people as well.  We have had help from every direction, and been blessed in so many ways.  All eight of our children have been a huge blessing to both of us, growing us in ways we would never have imagined.  We couldn’t be prouder of them all! People have provided us with food, clothing, money for camp, mechanical help, babysitting help, photography, therapy, haircuts,  and everything in between! It has certainly been a community effort!

Looking back, we are amazed at the ways that God blessed and protected us.  Out hot water heater should not have been sufficient for a family of ten… but it was.  Same goes for our septic system.  We had been led beforehand by many circumstances to a home that would be large enough to accommodate all of us.  We remarkably only had one emergency room trip, and no broken bones.  The list goes on and on and twenty years later we look back and are truly overwhelmed with gratitude, both to all those who helped, and our tremendous God who was behind it all.

Most recent family picture on May, 2017:

Our number has now grown from a family of ten, to a family of 26… and with more on the way!

Thanks for joining me on this little trip down memory lane, and allowing me to share our story with you. Back to the art next week!