It is not easy to raise a kid let alone seven kids that are not even your own. But life is full of surprises and God has his own ways to make your life and others lives a spectacular one.
The lives of seven young children whose parents died because of a car crash, changed forever because one mother knew she was supposed to be their mom.
Pam Willis was scrolling on Facebook back in 2019, when she saw a story about seven brothers and sisters – aged between 1 – 12 – looking for a home.
The children had been living in a foster care for more than one year after the horrific accident. Pam said that the moment she looked at their faces, she couldn’t stop thinking about them.
Pam said to Today Parents, “ I can’t explain it – I just knew I was supposed to be their mom. “
Pam tagged her husband, Gary, in the article. The two have five adult children together, they had fostered kids in the past but never came across their mind to permanently adopt.
“I thought Gary was going to tell me I was wacko — we were getting ready to retire,” Pam said.
“It was what God wanted us to do.”
Pam shared her experience when they called the number listed in the article. “We were told they’d already received thousands of calls.”
But seems like they are destined to be with the seven siblings. Just two months later, Pam and Gary took in Adelino, 15, Ruby, 13, Aleecia, 9, Anthony, 8, Aubriella, 7, Leo, 5, and Xander, 4.
Pam found out that the children’s parents had fought addiction and that they lived in a homeless encampments before. What a trauma the kids must have gone through given the fact that they just lost their mom and dad because of an accident.
“It was easy to connect with the little ones. They were just desperately craving permanency,” Pam said.
It was not the same with the two older children.
“I think they didn’t quite trust that we were real. Like maybe we were going to go away,” Pam said. “I think it’s so hard to trust when so much has been taken from your life. Ruby didn’t know how to be a kid. She had to be a mother figure at a very young age.”
It took Pam and Gary six months before the children became comfortable with them.
“One night, my then-7-year-old came into our room,” Pam recalled. “I asked her, ‘Did you have a bad dream?’ And she replied, ‘No, I just wanted to make sure that you were still here.’”
Pam and Gary made their adoption official last August and “It was awesome” as per Pam.
“We brought a big TV screen out to the park so everybody could watch and cheer and be safe during Covid. There was so much love.”
Pam wrote on social media: “They’ve given us a second chance at parenting, we’ve given them a second Mom and Dad. They are our Second Chance 7.”
What a wonderful story about second chances! What are your thoughts of the story? Don’t forget to share and like.