A few of my thoughts about all the media attention our family has gotten....

http://christiannews.net/2014/11/22/west-virginia-couple-adopts-29-abandoned-special-needs-
children-and-counting/

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2841249/Being-mother-career-Woman-34-CHILDREN-reveals-wants-expanding-family.html

Here are 2 more of many articles written about our family. Neither one of these were we asked permission for. However, I don't ever post anything I would not mind to be copied and, my blog is an open blog. I do this so there would be no restrictions to who may see what we do or how we live as a faithful family trying our best to follow Jesus . We are not a perfect family by any means but our motivation rests there with our personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

I have been amused at some of the comments on all the articles . I wanted to clarify a few things about us. We are christian and believe in the Bible as the authority and main spiritual guide for our lives. We are not perfect and have struggles like everyone else . We do have a hope and a joy as we walk thru these struggles and life because of our deep christian faith and love of Jesus Christ.

We do not receive any govt. assistance for the care of our children. We fully support our children with Paul's salary. Our medical costs are covered by the insurance we get thru his employer. We chose a plan with a high deductible and we usually meet our deductible in January and that reduces the cost to us of our medical care and eventually we have even hit the highest level in a year and paid nothing the rest of the year for our medical needs. Remember we have done over 120 surgeries in the past 12 yrs and many have required additional therapy and follow ups . That with the costs of medicines and additional cost for walkers, wheelchairs etc... it is not hard for our family to meet our high deductible.

We do not receive medicaid or any assistance from anyone to pay for our medical care . However, some of our providers ( doctors ) have provided treatment and care at no cost , bought equipment or even visited us in our home with their own family. They do this because they support and want to encourage our family in what we do...period. We believe this blessing is from God. I won't defend it either.

We do feed over 30 people , 3 meals a day. We do spend a lot on food , diapers, supplies and that includes the many b-days we celebrate every month. Paul makes a good salary and we spend every bit of it...but , God provided the employment as well as any surprise deals we find when we purchase things. We are very grateful for His provision wherever it comes from... Including the many individuals who have shared with us.

Our life is intense and crazy but we love it. It is exactly what God designed for us. We do wish more people would consider adoption and especially the child with special needs or the older teens . This is the main reason I blog and share so openly on fb...I desire to encourage others by allowing them to see us. We know that not everyone can live the way we do but everyone can do more for a child or children. Find what you are passionate about, search your heart for the deep love you have that I believe the Lord places in all of us and start " doing it ". Don't get just a warm feeling from reading about us. Don't feel guilty either ...spend some time with the Lord and ask Him for direction. I am positive He will answer this prayer.

Not many people I know get to live a life knowing that they are fulfilling the very purpose they were created for...I do. Many of you know my story and how we got into wanting to adopt. I never in my wildest thoughts we would adopt as many into our family as we have but with the Lord anything is possible. When I was growing up I always wanted a big family . I also always wanted to adopt. Paul and I are childhood sweethearts. We met at a christian camp for leaders. We lived about an hour away when he returned from camp I realized he might be the one that God had chosen for me to marry...even at the age of 14 I was pretty mature and had a deep relationship with the Lord. Our first " date" was a babysitting job I set up to personally see how well Paul got along with kids....He passed and we have been dating for 43 and a half yrs - married now for almost 38 yrs. God knew what He was doing when He brought us together : )

We married and began our own bio. family. We adopted and raised Abraham when we had our " first" family. We have tried to adopt thru the foster care system in 2 diff. states that we lived in. We have 22 children from that experience in our hearts. We hated the foster care system but we loved the children...and that is all I care to comment on that. We believe that God does not look down upon the Earth and say...humm those children are in the USA and those are in Ukraine ....He sees all children the same. When a child needs a family it does not matter to God where they are from. So it should not matter to us either.

I felt like I needed to share some about the comments and you can figure out what they might have been. Overall I was amazed that most were extremely positive. One more thing...we have found that our story has moved all around the World. It has been rather funny to read some of them. One had me actually giving birth to all 34 children the normal way ...I mean really . We continue to allow our story to be shared because it is not at all about us or our inspiring children but all about the amazing God we serve.