November 26th, 2008 by Jennine

Since I began working for the Post Review newspaper six months ago, I have had many opportunities to meet amazing people in my community. But none more so than the Eiden family who despite having eight children of their own, decided to adopt five more children from Liberia, Africa, simply because they felt the Lord was calling them to do so.

While doing the interview with this family, I had opportunity to say the following words: “I only have seven children.” It was a first for me.

As I observed this family interact with each other it was apparent to me that God has given these parents a generous portion of patience and understanding. With 15 people in their home, just the normal activity was hectic in a sense I seldom experience.

Happy Thanksgiving to all my internet friends. I hope you have a wonderful time with your loved ones.

The Eiden family (l-r) Back row: Glen, Carter, Vera, Darla, Ilia, Matthew and Breen.Front row: Klein, Paxton, John, Sully, Mimi, Callan, Maria and Tayt.

The Eidens are bighearted people but the story of why they adopted five children from Liberia, Africa, is nothing short of a lesson in love.

While in their dating years, Glen and Darla Eiden had the typical “how many kids do you want” discussion. Darla quickly answered “four”. Glen responded “zero”.

A logical solution might have been to have two children and call it even. However, love is rarely logical.

Glen and Darla were married and through the years welcomed seven biological children into their family: Carter, Tayt, Paxton, Callan, Sully, Breen and Ilia.

Then, in December 2004, Darla happened to read an article about AIDS in Africa and the huge number of orphans left in the wake of the disease.

“I felt the Lord begin to stir my heart. I didn’t know exactly what that meant for us, but I wanted to find out,” explained Darla.

She decided to call Glen, a software engineer, at work.

“Honey,” she said, “I think God is calling us to move to Africa.”

Glen just laughed.

As the Eidens began to explore different options, they felt that the Lord was leading them towards adoption. Together they agreed to pursue adopting asibling group of two or three children and decided on the country of Liberia.

In May 2005, the Eidens hired a social worker to conduct a home study and were approved for the two or three children they were hoping to adopt.

They began working with the WACSN (West African Children Support Network) orphanage to find a family in their desired age ranges.

“One thing we were certain about throughout the process was that we wanted to adopt children younger than our eldest biological son,” explained Glen.

While filling out the required paperwork, the Eidens’ social worker told them to write the largest number that they would possibly consider adopting to avoid having to resubmit the forms. Adopting less than the form indicated was fine, but not more.

Darla filled out the form with the number six. Glen said, “No way are we taking six!” However, after discussing it more, he said that the most he would consider adopting was five.

In June 2005, the Eidens began receiving pictures of sibling groups from the orphanage. Most were sets of two, but one group of five children (ranging in ages from three to 12 years) really touched their hearts.

“Glen would come home from work, stare at the picture of the two older children and say ‘What is going to happen to them?’ It was an option to take only the three younger ones, but that was not the Lord’s plan,” said Darla.

The social worker who conducted the home study, without hesitation, changed her earlier recommendation of three children to support the Eidens’ decision. Soon the Eiden family of nine would be the Eiden family of 14.

“It was so wonderful to see God move to make His will happen in our lives,” said Darla.

Darla shared the news with her mother who relayed it to her father:

“Glen and Darla feel the Lord has called them to adopt a family of five from Africa,” she explained.

With his usual sense of humor, Darla’s father replied, “Well, tell her to call Him back. He must have dialed the wrong number!”

The Eidens received great support from their extended family, and also from their church family at Maranatha in Wyoming, Minn.

“Our church became intercessors, praying for our family and the adoption. They were awesome. They even helped us finish our basement,” said Darla.

In November 2005, Glen and his son, Carter, boarded a plane bound for Liberia. They traveled for approximately 28 hours to arrive in the WACSN orphanage where they met their new family members: Vera- 13, Matthew-11, John-8, Mimi-6 and Maria-4.

The introductions went well and the children formed an immediate bond with their new father and brother.

After spending a week in Africa, it was time to bring the children to Minnesota where Darla was eagerly waiting at the airport with all the other children.

Cooking for 15 people is no small feat, but Vera, age 16, loves to cook with her mom and is quite skilled in the kitchen. Here the family gathers for a meal of spaghetti and Ilia, age four, paused long enough to pose for the camera.

Matthew, now age 14, recalled what he expected to find in his new country. “I thought the streets would be paved with gold! I thought everyone lived in castles.”

Instead, the children arrived in Minnesota to find snow falling from the sky, something they had only seen in movies.

The culture change was a shock to the newly transplanted family.

“When we arrived home from the airport, we came in from the garage and switched on the lights. All the children jumped, startled from the indoor electricity which was something they were not used to,” said Darla.

“Language was also an issue,” explained Glen. “While English is the national language of Liberia, it is not like our English. There is a strong French influence. They truncate trailing consonants and skip connecting words which made it difficult to understand what they were saying.”

It took three to four months to communicate easily with the children. It took about two years and tons of love for everyone to get to that oneness that is part of being a family.

It was around that time that Darla and Glen welcomed another blessing into the family with the birth of Klein Eiden, who is, from the start, “Everyone’s Brother”.

According to the Eidens, the challenge of raising 13 children is an exercise of faith in God, daily prayer time and a lot of patience.

“We aren’t extraordinary people. We were not born with extraordinary patience. We were just called by God to take a step outside the boat and into the water of trust and He will never let us down.”

The Eidens highly recommend the gift of adoption to anyone who may feel
the”stirring”.

“We have been blessed more than we ever could imagine since taking this step of faith,” said Glen and Darla.

While Matthew may not have found the streets in America paved with precious metals, he did find a brand new family with hearts of gold.