Couple Adopts 7 Siblings Separated Throughout 4 Foster Homes

For each person living with myasthenia gravis, or MG, their journey with this rare condition is unique. That's why Untold Stories Life with myasthenia gravis, a new podcast from iHeartRadio in partnership with Argenics, is exploring the extraordinary challenges and personal triumphs of underserved communities living with MG. Host Martine Hackett will share these powerful perspectives from real people with MG so their experiences can help inspire the MG community and educate others about this rare condition. Listen to find strength in community on the MG journey on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Grainger offers supplies and solutions for every industry, as well as safety assessments and training to keep your facilities safe and your people safer.

Call clickgrainger.com or just stop by. Grainger, for the ones who get it done. This is Our American Stories, and this is the story of how a Florida couple kept seven siblings, four brothers and three sisters, ages 12 to 4, together that were separated throughout four different foster homes. Sophia and Deshaun Olds, both 33, got married in 2004, and they admit that as newlyweds, they were too busy with schooling and serving in the military, both veterans who served overseas in Iraq, to think about starting a family. This is the story of how one childless married couple of 13 years became a family of nine, literally overnight. We thought like we would never ever get adopted, but I thought this was like a really good blessing for us. I never actually had a mom and a dad under the same roof, but it feels great.

It's like they both like a half of something, like peanut butter and jelly. Hello, I'm Deshaun Olds. And I'm Sophia Olds, and we would like to tell you about our process, our story of adoption. We have always wanted to adopt. We've been married for about 13 years now, and it had always been in our plans to adopt and to have biological children.

We actually took the classes in 2006 and were preparing to adopt a child. However, we couldn't agree upon an age. So we postponed it, got busy with life, enjoying life, continuing in our careers in college, military, us traveling. We just were enjoying life. We were having a wonderful time together with family, with friends. I know a lot of people probably wonder and question, why is it that they don't have biological children?

It just never happened for us. In 2013, I took a pregnancy test and the test came back positive, and it was the scariest thing to me. I cried and I cried and I cried because I wasn't ready to be a mother.

I know that being a mother is one of the most important jobs, number one in this world. And I guess I felt like I wasn't ready to do that, that I couldn't be that yet. And a couple of days later, I miscarried. It was confirmed by the doctors and I had miscarried. And again, I felt another form of sadness because a child that we would have, we no longer would have, even though we were early on in our pregnancy. It was still devastating for me. No, I hadn't felt the baby kick.

I hadn't felt the baby move, but it was devastating. But again, we continued life. Also, we were very active in our local church, so we were active in, my husband is the youth pastor, Children's Church, ages what?

Four to twelve. I've always been a part of my life just to help out with children in the church. And I guess one thing we always did is that every time we gave our offering, we had on the back of it, adopted a child on there. And then it was just no surprise that the story came out the day after Thanksgiving. And the day after Thanksgiving, what most people are doing is shopping, how we are shopping. And we saw the story on Facebook, these seven children who needed a home.

It was home for the holidays. And one scripture just came to my mind is that in my father's house, there's many rooms. And I go prepare a place for you. And the Lord's Prayer, we do things on earth as it is in heaven. So we had a space to truly be, to open our home for seven children. And we knew that we had everything that these children needed. They needed a mother, a father. They needed stability, structure, discipline with us having military. They needed love.

They needed care. My husband being a teacher, me being in social work, having those skills, the spiritual background, everything. We were just putting our whole hope and our whole trust in all of our dreams and our ambitions and our life in his hands. We were surrendering all when we decided to adopt our seven children.

Yeah. And once we put our faith out there, it's amazing how God works it out. These students I've been serving at Rutherford High School, their parents came together and said, what can we do? What can we do? They did everything for bringing furniture to build bunk beds, to donate sports equipment, to donate groceries. One parent is a farmer and truly just slaughtered a pig for us.

So we have sausage, bacon, everything else. And also our families, a day hasn't gone by that they haven't asked us or given to us, whether it be snacks for the children to take to school, whether it be cooking up a big pot of lima beans, helping out, cooking food, getting the children off the bus when we both have to work, picking oranges, whatever it is, any extra that they have had, anything that they could give, whether it be five dollars. We have had that outpouring from our families from both sides. We have had that from complete strangers that live thousands and thousands of miles away.

It has been no stress, no struggle at all. And I do believe that that goes back to us doing the will of God to help build his kingdom, to provide a home for, as the Bible calls them, orphans. You know, that is something that the Bible states we should do. Yes, in James 127, it says, true religion is to take care of the orphans.

And we all know that it is more blessed to give than to receive. If we were allowed to adopt these seven children, we would do it. We will work every day of our lives to make sure that they are cared for. And I think what's most important, too, is for them to see and to have an example of what it's like to have a father who is the head of the household, who has a strong faith and belief in God, who can teach them, who can lead the family. And I know that they enjoy that. I know that they feel privileged and proud to know that their dad is up there teaching them. You can see the smiles on their face and they enjoy talking about it afterwards.

They ask lots of questions. So that whole aspect has been wonderful to have him up front teaching our children about God, about the things that they should do in life to be saints, to be good children, to grow up, to be successful. And I just think for my spiritual fathers, because I did not have a biological father involved in my life, but my spiritual father from my pastors to different men in my church to help show me the way right there. And I could just use that to impart not only to my children, but all the children I minister to on a weekly basis. So I think it's important to know that in this story of adoption, I am not called to be a minister, to be behind a pulpit, to preach at a church, to be a pastor. But I know that this is my calling that God has placed in my life and I am embracing it.

I am enjoying it. And that's why I can say that I am not stressed because it is something that we are doing that we are supposed to do. So it makes it so much easier. Does it require a lot from us? A lot of time, a lot of correction that we have to do. But it is also worth it.

Every part of it. This is what we're supposed to do in life. These seven children are our calling to be their mother and their father. And we take it just as serious as if it was a pastor over a church or a CEO or a business. This is us, a manager over a team. This is us. This is what we are called to do. And we give him all the praise, the glory, the honor for it, because without him, we would not be able to do this.

And we are doing it. And that is our story. I somehow managed to leave the faith walk of this couple out of the story. And just a few things they said.

And it was Sophia who said this. Once you put your faith out there, it's amazing how God works it out. And in came the food and in came the help from the family members. In came all that love. True religion is to take care of the orphans. And if more Christians in this great country did what this young couple did, my goodness, we could solve a lot of problems in our country. This is our American story.

Sophia and Deshawn holds his story and those seven kids they adopted their stories to. There are some things in life you just can't trust, like a free couch on the side of the road or the sushi rolls from your local gas station, or when your kids say they don't need the bathroom before the road trip. But there are some things in life you can trust, like the HP Smart Tank Printer with up to two years of ink included and outstanding print quality. You can rely on the HP Smart Tank Printer from HP, America's most trusted printer brand.

I'm Malcolm Gladwell. I don't know if you know this about me, but I'm a car nut and I will do anything to keep my cars happy, to make sure they stay running smoothly. I look for those things at eBay Motors. With eBay Guaranteed Fit, when you see the green check, you know that part will fit. Get the right parts at the right prices.

eBayMotors.com. Let's ride. Eligible items only.

Exclusions apply. In Denver, a girl's getaway to the city comes with a side of Rocky Mountains. Shopping in Cherry Creek turns into delicious Larimer Square eats. Sunny days in Wash Park lead to sizzling nights in River North. And a concert at Red Rocks means dancing with a view. When you're planning your girl's trip, come to the intersection of life and however you like living it. Denver. Always welcome. Plan your getaway at visitdenver.com slash summer. Sponsored by Visit Denver.