"When seven kids needed a home, our hearts said yes!"

After raising three children, Angela and Elliott Turbeville decided to become foster parents. They planned to take in just one child, but when they learned seven siblings needed a home, they discovered just how much love the heart can hold— and the power it has to change lives

- Diane Nichols

Lying in bed on an October night in 2019, Angela Turbeville and her husband, Elliott, poured through paperwork the foster agency had sent. Four siblings needed a loving home; three boys and one girl, ranging in age from 8 to 12.

After raising three biological children, the Columbus, Georgia, couple, both in their 40s, felt they still had love to give to a child. Unable to have more of their own, they decided to foster. But four kids in one fell swoop was more than they had planned.

Can we do this? they wondered.

But then Angela noticed something in the profiles.

"Did you see that one of the boys has your late mother's birthday, one was born on my grandparents' anniversary and one has the same birthday as my childhood best friend?" Angela asked. "It's a sign, Elliott. We have to do this!"

With open arms 

Within a week, the children joined the household.

But while the couple's hearts were ready, their house wasn't. They had to rush out and buy more beds, furniture and mattresses. Since it was two days before Halloween, they also got the kids costumes so they could trick-or-treat with their daughters and grandson.

Seeing their smiles, Angela felt hopeful that her family could give the children the happy life they deserved.

But something the children brought up during their first few days nagged at Angela's heart: They still had three younger siblings in foster care.

Angela and Elliott had no idea.

"This isn't right. Siblings belong together," they agreed, and contacted the Georgia Division of Family & Children Services, who arranged for weekend visits.

Seeing how happy the children were to be reunited, Angela and Elliott knew what they had to do.

“We will take them too,” they told social workers.