A group of seven brothers couldn’t hold back their excitement when their mom called them from the hospital to reveal they had welcomed a baby sister into the family.
Scott and Maggie Hensley, from Raleigh, North Carolina, had seen their family grow over the years, having started by supporting a teen mom ministry, which led to them adopting two sets of brothers through foster care.
Over Christmas, Scott, 36, and Maggie, 35, were contacted by their youngest son’s biological parents to tell them they were expecting another baby and how they would like the couple to hopefully adopt the newborn to keep the family together.
Knowing the youngster would have a more settled life growing up with their siblings, Scott and Maggie said yes to the proposal, their family motto being, “When you have more than you need, build a longer table, not a higher fence.”
Over the months that followed it was then a waiting game for the seven brothers – Deacon (14), Bennett (12), Callahan (10), Aiden (7), Banner (6), Hunter (4), Dakota (2) – who wondered if they would welcome an eighth boy or the family’s first girl.
Scott and Maggie decided to keep things a surprise, and while the boys and Scott were at home in North Carolina, Maggie flew to Texas to be there for the birth.
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Having then met baby girl Conlynn Josephine, or “Connie Jo,” at JPS Hospital in Fort Worth, Maggie video-called her boys to announce the news.
Maggie said: “Our boys have always been the most selfless and caring kids.
“Our hope is that we are raising them to be compassionate and empathetic; That they will learn to love others as God loves us and that they will put others needs before that of their own.
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“Adoption is complicated and there is a great deal of loss that’s tied up in it, having walked through years of foster care they are well versed in the complexity of it all.
“But through their reactions you see just for a moment all the pain and struggle that is tied up in adoption fade away and the beauty that can come from it.
“Adoption is hard but it’s worth it.
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“Big families are hard, but they are worth it.
“Keeping siblings together, no matter how hard, is worth it.”