Always Room For More
When David and Grace James became engaged they planned to have a small family, perhaps two or three children. Today, with two birth sons and six adopted children, they have formed a family quite different from what they could have ever envisioned.
After their first two sons, now ages 21 and 16, were born, Grace was told that any further pregnancies would put both her and the child at great risk. So the James' became foster parents with a view toward adoption. When their boys Will and Aaron were 7 and 2, three-year-old Ashley joined the family. But two months later, the agency asked the James’ if they could also accept placement of another little girl, Jenai. They readily agreed, not knowing that this too would result in a permanent adoptive placement. Within the next five years, the James family was thriving and they knew they had room for more. They welcomed Joshua (now 15) and Kelvin (14) into the fold. And the family was destined to keep growing: it was at this time that Grace and David were “matched” with beautiful and bright three-year-old Ebony, now age 9.
Amazingly, there is more. The young daughter of a personal friend, unable to keep and raise the baby she was expecting, turned to the James’ for help. In order to avoid her baby being placed in the foster care system, she asked the James’ to adopt her baby, a girl who together they named Tiffany. The rest, as they say, is history.
Not every family adopts six children. The James’ feel blessed with all their children and consider that that life has been good to the family. Their faith and perseverance helps them deal with the special needs of some of the children, including the fragile health of Joshua, who at 15 is struggling with leukemia. Grace’s own health condition led the family to relocate to the dryer climate of Arizona this past year.