My wife, Talitha, and I met in college. We married at 21 and 20, confidently believing we could serve God better together.
One summer about three years later, we saw a billboard ad with stick figures of a family and the words, “Got room for one more?” We did! We became licensed foster parents.
For two years, we fostered children ranging from a 6-month-old to a 16-year-old, who was bigger and looked older than both of us. As we interacted with families and children who were hurting, God gave us eyes to see, hearts to ache and hands to hold.
We could no longer sing “Jesus Loves the Little Children” without seeing real faces. We learned it was one thing to protest and vote against abortion; it was another to take a child—and sometimes the family situation—into our home.
Life changed when our former social worker called to say that the 5-year-old we had in respite foster care was now 7 and in need of an adoptive home. We took a night to discuss, pray and think how our life would need to change. Regardless, a young boy needed someone to love him. How could we refuse? We adopted our first son in 2001.
Our biological son was born the following year. We relicensed as foster/adoptive parents, so we could adopt to fill the age gap. Instead, God called us to a newborn.
Excited, we said “Yes,” diving in with a newborn daughter when our second son wasn’t even a year old. While Talitha was working 80-hour weeks on-call as a medical resident at the hospital, we would all meet in the break room to eat hospital food and allow both babies to nurse.
Almost two years later, we received a call from social services—our daughter’s birth mother was expecting again. The county was already involved and asked if we would take the baby until permanent placement was determined.
We said “Yes,” and added our youngest daughter, who we officially adopted a year later, to our family.
Our forever family, built by God through marriage, foster care, adoption and biology, has known challenges. As parents, we have survived by understanding these are God’s kids. We are not perfect, but what matters most is not a success story but how we continue to live a love story.
As children of God, we have a great example of this perfect, unconditional, agape love: “For God so loved the world.” Our forever family paints an earthly picture of the heavenly love of our Father.
Our children are all adults now, each with their own unique story. Not one of us has the same genetics. When asked why we don’t all look the same, we say God loves diversity. When asked which of the kids are our real children, we say, “They all are.”
Jason Sannes-Venhuizen and his wife, Talitha, have four children and live in rural Frazee, Minnesota. They attend Lake Region Mennonite Church in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota. Jason serves as an ICU nurse at St. Mary’s Hospital and as site manager for Camp Cherith, a Christian summer camp.
