Why "Eight Is Not Enough"?
When we were younger, there was a television sitcom that was called "Eight is Enough". The television watching world was entertained with the thought of a family with eight children. Most of us were shocked at the prospect of such a large family- myself included! Then ever so slowly, God began to work on our hearts, until we surrendered to Him all of our lives- yes even gave Him sovereign control over the size of our family and He has blessed us immeasurably, with eight biological children. Each of these children have been an amazing gift to us and we cherish each of them. And we praised God for them and felt to ourselves "eight is enough" - at least for a time.
Then God began to stir our hearts. It was as if He spoke to say to us "these 8 precious children I have given to you, but what have you given to my orphans in return?" A burden began to build on our hearts to adopt. We knew that for us God still had other plans for us as parents if we would be faithful to His calling- that eight is not enough. And so, we followed this call to adopted and He has continued to blessed us through adoption. First a sibling group of three from Soacha, Colombia. They joined our family in November, 2008. In May 2010, we adopted twin infants from Texas. In September of 2012 we were privileged to return to Colombia and adopt a sibling group of two from Cali. At this time, we anxiously wait for our travel date to depart for China where a very special girl and boy wait for their forever family. By the time they all reach adulthood, we will have had the amazing privilege to be parents of children in our home for a half century. Our life is full beyond measure, beyond our wildest expectations, yes even beyond anything we could have ever hoped. Truly, eight is not enough. As of late we have wondered if God's plan for us as parents all along was not for eight children, but rather eight plus eight. Our heavenly Father knows and His word assures us "I know the plans I have made for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you." We trust He knows the number of His children He wants us to love and to nurture on His behalf, and whether that is eight or eighty times eight we stand ready and say speak Lord, your servants are listening and are prepared to be father and mother to your fatherless on earth.
Just a quick update. Time is going fast and we are adjusting wonderfully. We have had the kids 2 months today and they are a joy. They continue to learn to recognize spoken English although they do not speak alot yet. They do speak more little by little each day though.
Jason and Tatiana love going places. Santiago gets a worried look on his face every time we leave the house and hugs on to mom. He pretty much strangles me until he sees what we are doing and that everything is o.k. Then he relaxes and enjoys the experience.
We went to the Zoo last weekend and they loved it. Jason was as excited about seeing a train on the way as he was at the zoo. I guess he never saw one before. Santiago didn't miss a cage. He had to be sure he saw each one.
We are finishing the adoption finalization next week and Santiago is very adamant about changing his name. We were going to keep the names they used and give them new middle names but he now says his name is Luke! No talking him out of it. We will keep Santiago as his middle name in case he changes his mind later.
Our house is never dull and is much more active. The noise level has increased greatly! We wouldn't have it any other way.
