Who we are...

Here we are...

and here...

and here!

I am Cara, and my husband is Dale. We are the parents of 12 wonderful children. We are truly open to what the Lord wants for our family. We have hearts for adoption, and got our homestudy updated again recently just because I had a strong urge to get it done. We do have a lot of children, but we also have a house full of love. I can't tell you how blessed we are! I was the baby of my family growing up, and was the only one at home for about 5 years. Being the mommy of all these children, I am amazed at how wonderful it is to be in a large, multiracial family. Each of these children are awesome, so loving and close knit. We have fun talking about birth stories, adoption stories, and even birth countries stories, and delight in all the differences! The kids all have so much fun together. Everyone works together to get things done, and it is just second nature.

I've seen how this family operates. There are 12 children, but they have hearts bent toward service with love. We have had some health issues and developmental delays in the past and present, but we all rally together and do what we have to do and get through it stronger. We do what we have to do, research what we have to research, and get done what needs to get done on behalf of our children. I've noticed that the kids even do this for each other! We are so richly blessed, and would love to welcome more children into our home. I realize that we are not the "usual" family who wants to adopt, but we are an experienced, loving family very open to the Lord's will for our lives. We are open to special needs, biracial, AA, etc. Our homestudy is updated and ready to go.

We love to travel, and we've been able to take some fun, affordable vacations in the last few years. We like to visit family, go to family camps, and do other fun things. We are pretty good travelers for a large family! We drive a 15 passenger van, and it is a joy to look back and see all the precious faces! We live in a good sized house in the middle of town, but it is tucked away so it has a country feel. We have a large yard where the kids can run and play, complete with a lot of accessories that kids like! We have a playset in the backyard that is a hit with everyone. There is always something going on here!

Dale is a good daddy and a good provider for us. He has a steady job and a good salary with a reputable company. The highlight of his day is when he drives in the driveway after work, and the kids run out to greet him! It is quite a mob, and it makes him feel like a celebrity! He has a lot of ages of kids to take care of, and can be found talking sports scores with our 21, 12, or 10 year old sons, baking with our teen girls, building a fort with our middle boys, and pushing little ones on the swings in the backyard in the same day! (and he can grill a wonderful hamburger!!) He reads Bible stories and other books to the kids. He is a strong Christian man, and I am so grateful for him. (and did I mention he loves me??)

I am a stay at home mommy, and I love my job. We spend a lot of time with our kids, and I love that I know what makes them happy and sad, and that I taught all the older ones to read! I try to "make magic" at our house, and we have fun celebrating birthdays and holidays. We have a lot of fun traditions that the kids count on, and I try not to forget anything! Church is very important to us, and we are there most Sundays and other times. We always try to be open to different activities the kids want to do. We've done flag football, basketball, soccer, drama classes, music camp...just to name a few activities. I balance it all so we are not too busy--at least most of the time! At times we've had kids going to different therapies, and we've made that work, too. I'm the designated driver for all these activities! (although we have some older kids with their licenses now that can help with that!) We have a lot of our kids taking music lessons with a wonderful teacher that comes to our house. That is a blessing! The whole family either attends or helps with Awana (a Bible memorization program at our church) and enjoys that. I often stay up late spending time with the older bunch, then get up early to get the little ones breakfast. It's quite a contrast!

Our kids are: Ashley 23, Travis, 21, Hannah 19, Whitney 17, Sara 15, Tanner 12, Trevor 10, Kenny 8, Kelsey 7, Brenna 6, Titus 5, and Bella 2. They all live at home at this time, and are a joy to us. We are privileged to have them.

We have found that, in a large family, love does not divide, but multiplies!