Many couples have a conversation about how many kids they’d like to have. Some might only want one or two, while others like the idea of having a big family and plan to have four or five kids.
Then, there are people like Jeane and Paul Briggs who have one of the biggest families in existence – they’ve adopted 38 kids in total and 25 of them still live at the family home!
The most incredible part of all is that many of those kids simply wouldn’t have been given a chance at life without Jeane and Paul’s help. It’s been an extraordinary journey for the pair, but they wouldn’t have had it any other way.
Jeane and Paul’s story began when they were just teenagers, meeting for the first time at a Christian summer camp. Jeane was 14, while Paul was 16. Paul remembers noticing Jeane right away and trying to find reasons to talk to her.
The pair hit it off and have never separated since then, but Jeane, who had already planned to have a big family in the future and always wanted to adopt, made sure to put Paul’s parenting skills to the test.
On their very first date, they did some babysitting so she could see what he was like with kids!
The couple got married in 1976 and had three biological children before pursuing their first adoption of a Mexican toddler named Abraham.
The 2-year-old was blind and Jeane was so touched by his story, she just knew they had to adopt him.
From there, the adoptions just kept coming, with Jeane and Paul learning about all kinds of kids from around the world, mostly with special needs or physical issues, and choosing to let them into their lives.
Sadly, in many cases, kids with special needs have to spend long periods of time in orphanages or foster homes as many people see them as “too much work” to adopt.
Paul and Jeane, who has experience as both a nurse and an educator, see things differently.
They want to help as many of these less fortunate kids as they possibly can, and they’ve adopted little ones of varying ages from as far away as Ukraine, Russia, and Ghana. Without their kindness, many of these kids may simply have passed away or never found family homes to call their own.
As you can imagine, life in the Briggs family home is pretty different to what you’re probably used to with your own family!
They live in a 5,000 square foot property that has undergone extensive renovations, including two pools, a soccer field, a lot of bathrooms and an absolutely gigantic kitchen too.
There’s a dorm-style room for the girls and two large sleeping rooms for the boys as well.
Jeane works at home to teach and care for the kids, while Paul works in IT, and the couple have to cover costs of about $1,100 per week just in groceries!
It’s a lot of work, but the whole family pitches in and it seems that the Briggs are all incredibly happy with how their lives have turned out.
Jeane and Paul have two of the biggest hearts around, and you can learn all about their story and take a look inside their home in the video below.
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