Southern White Couple Adopt Eight Children from Sierra Leone
Source: dailymail.co.uk
Mike and Hayley Jones, right travelled to Sierra Leone to adopt the eight children. Front row: Tucker, Zion, Judah Second row: Isaiah, Tyler, Malachi, Levi, Gabrielle Back row: Samuel and Michael
After talking to an orphanage in Africa they decided to adopt the seven brothers and one sister in one go.
The children, aged between five and 16 were in a children's home after their father was killed and their mother was unable to cope.
Mrs Jones, 31, says that her life has now changed dramatically but that she wouldn't change it for the world.
She said: 'Not a second goes by when I don't need to be cleaning, cooking, teaching, washing or just listening. But I wouldn't have it any other way.
'Now we have eight new mouths to feed, we have to be careful with money, but we find the most joy from just being together as a family - we don't have to buy expensive clothes or toys to be happy.
'Our eight new kids were always destined to be a part of our family, it just took us a little while to find them. Now, our family has tripled in size and happiness.'
The former teacher, was inspired to visit the African country in 2010, after discovering one of her students was from Sierra Leone and had been adopted by an American family.
The family had then returned to Sierra Leone to begin their own orphanage, which is where the family chose to adopt from.
Alongside husband, Mike, 34, who works for the water board, they went to 'The Raining Season' orphanage where they were interviewed to become adoptive parents.
The orphanage is a Christian-run facility that can house up to 120 children in one go.
When the couple originally looked into adopting they were adamant it would just be one or two children.
But after hearing the names of a number of children who were still waiting to be adopted they decided they should take more.
They were then told about Michael, 16, Samuel, 15, Gabrielle, 12, Levi, 11, Malachi, nine, Judah, eight, Isaiah, seven and Zion, five, and decided they would be the perfect addition.
Mr Jones said: 'We thought it was about two or three children we'd be adopting when we initially met the orphanage.
'But God was telling us both separately to keep going for more and more - it was just brought up that there was a sibling group of six and eight.
'They were just names on a piece of paper and we didn't know anything about them.
'It's like I got hit in the head with a hammer, I didn't know anything about them but I knew we were meant to adopt them.
'We had no idea if there were physical, or any types of disabilities or anything at all, we had no idea.
'When Hayley went over there and was able to spend time with them, she just knew straight away they were our kids.'
The couple decided that God had sent them to that orphanage for a reason and, as devout Christians, they should do all they could to help improve their lives.
After speaking to their biological children, Tucker, five, and Tyler, nine, they began preparations to welcome the new family additions.
Using the crowdsourcing website gofundme, the family were able to raise more than $16,000 (£9,556) which enabled them to extend their four bedroom bungalow in Tennessee, USA.
They were able to turn the cellar of the house into a number of bedrooms, as well as an extra bathroom and a laundry room.
The money meant they could splash out on a new dining room table and a minibus which would be able to transport the 'Great Eight', as they call them.
Kind-hearted locals donated enough clothes for all of the children and bunk beds, so that every child had their own bed.
The couple began the adoption process in 2010, and though the initial process didn't take long, the children had to remain in Sierra Leone until they had passports and visas.
The whole process took the family three years, with Hayley splitting her time between her family in Tennessee and the children in Sierra Leone.
Though the delay was frustrating for the family, it allowed them to make the necessary adaptions to the home.
The children were flown to the family home in March 2013 - almost three years after the couple began the adoption process.
She said: 'I don't think I can describe the feeling of getting them home, it's just so surreal. I had them in my hands.
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