Hayley and Mike Jones always knew they would adopt. They imagined they would bring home one child, maybe a son, from abroad. The couple began speaking with an orphanage in Sierra Leone.
They heard about not one, but eight siblings, seven brothers and one sister. Their birth mother had placed them into an orphanage after their father was killed and she could not cope. They decided to take in every single one of the orphans, from ages 5 to 16, before ever meeting them.
Over the next three years, Hayley would leave her two biological children every few months to spend a few weeks with her eight adopted kids. Eventually, the “Great Eight” came home.
Hayley and Mike weren’t sure how things would go. The eight children were ecstatic to be adopted by the loving couple, but would their two cultures collide, or would they blend into one? There was an adjustment period for everyone. The children experienced a bit of culture shock, but a single glance at the family eating dinner shows nothing short of a loving single unit.
Each child has their own small task to prepare for the meal, whether it’s setting the table or cleaning a dish. Every morning, the family starts with a gallon of hot tea and milk — a tradition the Great Eight brought with them from Sierra Leone — and then the American tradition begins.
The family eats 36 eggs, two pounds of sausage, two packs of bacon, and 24 biscuits every morning. Make no mistake, Hayley and Mike aren’t rich. The family can’t go out to the movies, a restaurant meal is a special occasion, and they’ve had to cut corners everywhere.
What the Joneses prove is that two old cultures can come together to make one beautiful family, because at the end of the day, the only thing we need to bring us together is love.
Please Liked Video this family’s incredible story if you think we can all find common ground through compassion!
