Life has unusual ways of surprising us. This sweet little surprise comes from nowhere and changes our lives completely.
This is exactly what has happened with Jacob and Maxine Young. This couple married in 2016, went from having zero children to nine of them in just four years. How, you might wonder? Keep reading to know their wholesome story.
Maxine has always wanted to adopt children. So, when she learned about foster care, she decided to help those kids by giving them all the love and care, even if it’s temporary. The couple then took two months of classes and paperwork to become foster parents.
Once they completed their classes, foster care brought four siblings into their life. Initially, they had a few bumpy days but then, everything started falling in the right place. While raising their four, Maxine conceived via intrauterine insemination. The couple welcomed a son in October 2018 after trying for over two years.
Even then they thought the family is incomplete. So, they decided to add one more child. Turns out life had other plans for them. After trying to get pregnant for a while, Maxine found out that she was expecting quadruplets.
“After learning about foster care, it was always on my heart,” she told Good Morning America.
“We started to take the foster care classes and were approved in about two months. Not even a month later, we got our first placement call.”
“I said yes we’ll do it without even asking Jake,” she laughed.
“It was really overwhelming. Going from zero to three kids is a lot, but they had already been through so much and lost so much that I didn’t want to separate them.”
They were taking care of the three siblings when they got another call. Jacob and Maxine were asked if they’d want to take in the children’s fourth sibling, a baby girl named Elliot.
“We said yes to their baby sister and it was one of the best yesses of my life,” Maxine said.
“Elliot and I are so close. I laugh with Jake that she is my real soulmate.”
“The couple had been working on conceiving a biological child as well. They tried to conceive for about two years before intrauterine insemination helped Maxine along. She announced her pregnancy with son Henry in April 2018. He was born that October.”
“We dove in headfirst, without knowing how to swim. It felt like all we did was tread water for the first few months. Slowly, very slowly we began to learn one another, we got into a rhythm of things and it became second nature. Life was normal, or as normal as having 4 children in foster care could be,” Maxine wrote to celebrate the milestone. 
“We had melted into a unit, we had become a family. Now don’t get me wrong, there were hard days where we went to bed wondering how we could go on. Days where I woke up asking for forgiveness and a second chance to be a better mother, but those days are far outnumbered by the good days, the days where I can’t wait to wake up and do it all again,” she continued.
“YOU, you are the heroes of this world. The silent soldiers who make this world a better place just by being in it. I am in awe of you. All of you. You have shown me what matters in this world. You have given me glasses so that I could see the world through a different lens. Unrelentingly beautiful souls who have persevered through the toughest of circumstances and come out surprisingly kind and trusting. The world needs more people like you in it.”
“Thank you for everything you have done for me. I am eternally grateful for the joy you have brought into my life, the love you have shown me, and the unimaginable strength you have displayed. I have had the most cherished honor of taking care of you, loving you, and protecting you for the past two and a half years. It has changed me. You have made me better, in every way possible,” Maxine emotionally continued.
“Now I have the greatest honor of being your mama. You have given me the most meaningful and fulfilling role of my lifetime. Thank you for the forgiveness and grace you have shown me as I navigated my way through learning how to be a mother, for accepting me as I am, despite my flaws, and for showing me that wishes and miracles aren’t only in the movies. You, all of you, you are magic.”
“At first I was excited, but that quickly became nervousness,” she admitted to GMA.
“The doctors made it seem like it would be impossible to have four healthy babies and wanted us to reduce. Once we accepted that it would be risky, we felt joy come back. All four of our babies were healthy. I’m so glad we went with our gut.”
“I think most people that have nine kids have them more spread out,” Maxine joked.
“We have nine kids under 8 and it sounds even crazier when we say that we have eight under 5,” she continued.
“Jake and I always laugh because we’ll have a kid in every grade of middle school and high school one day.”
Though it poses its challenges, so far the dynamic is incredible, and they wouldn’t change a thing.
“You never feel like there’s not enough love in the house,” Maxine said.
“They might not share the same blood but they love each other just as much and it’s a beautiful thing to see.”
