A family in Abilene, Texas, recently adopted three siblings out of foster care even though they already had three children of their own to love.
Jake and Erin Mills sometimes experience a bit of chaos while getting their children ready for school, KTAB reported Wednesday.
Jake said, “so we went just kind of overnight this last summer from a family of 5 to a family of 8, a family with 3 kids to a family of 6 kids.”
Ten-year-old Xavier, nine-year-old Marie, and eight-year-old Christian became part of their family once they were adopted out of foster care, so 13-year-old Kennedy, eight-year-old Joshua, and six-year-old Hannah have three very special siblings.
“When they first walked through our door, to them this was just another foster placement so we had to just kind of break that,” Hannah recalled.
Following their foster care experience, a loving home was what the siblings needed more than anything else.
“Once we got to know them really good, it was awesome,” Marie commented.
In a social media post on Wednesday, Jake said he and Erin prayed that showing others what God did in their home would result in other foster children being taken in by loving families:
Even though it has been a learning process, Jake said there was enough love for everyone.
“They’ve never been in a home that is healthy that has good boundaries and good rules and where forgiveness is a part of what we do, we also show grace and have consequences and things like that,” he explained.
Photos showed the family together in the courtroom:
“I was privileged to become part of a foster care ministry in Abilene, and from that was birthed Foster 325,” said Erin, who was also adopted.
She developed a passion for foster care and is currently the engagement director for the organization that is working to get churches at least one foster family.
She explained that if they can accomplish the task, “We would have families waiting for kids, rather than kids waiting for homes.”