Hayley And Mike Jones Eight: Couple Adopts Eight Siblings From Sierra Leone Orphanage

Hayley and Mike Jones adopted eight children — all siblings — from an orphanage in Sierra Leone. The Tennessee couple went to visit the country with the hopes of adopting two of three children, but instead they fell in love with a family of seven brothers and one sister. According to Mail Online, Hayley and Mike had two biological children of their own, but decided against having a third biological child because both of Hayley’s pregnancies ended in “emergency C-sections.”

Once the Jones’ learned about the family of eight in Africa, they decided that they wanted to bring all of them home:

“The children, aged between five and 16 were in a children’s home after their father was killed and their mother was unable to cope.”

Hayley and Mike Jones’ eight children have fit into their family extremely well. In fact, Hayley believes that she and Mike were supposed to have these children with them, and she believes that this was fate. It might not be easy all the time, but it feels like it was meant to be.

Hayley Jones, 31, explained:

“Now we have eight new mouths to feed, we have to be careful with money, but we find the most joy from just being together as a family – we don’t have to buy expensive clothes or toys to be happy. Our eight new kids were always destined to be a part of our family, it just took us a little while to find them. Now, our family has tripled in size and happiness.”

Hayley and Mike Jones adopted their eight newest family members with some help from the public. The process started back in 2010. After discussing the idea with their biological sons, Tucker, 5, and Tyler, 9, the Jones’ started a campaign on gofundme.com. They were able to raise $16,000 which helped them expand their home. They took in donations from locals which included clothing and bedding, so that each child would have their own bed and their own clothes.

For the past few years, Hayley split her time between her home in the U.S. and the orphanage in Africa — one that she and Mike actually started on their own. In March of 2013, the eight children from Sierra Leone arrived in Tennessee. The couple describes the time as an “emotional roller coaster,” but they are so thankful that everything worked out.

Hayley and Mike Jones set a world record with the eight children that they adopted — but that’s not what they were going for. The couple really just wanted to have more children, and they figured that giving better lives to kids who deserved it was super rewarding and something that they simply felt like they had to do. According to The Mirror UK, the couple says that their family now feels “complete.”

As previously reported by The Inquisitr, another beautiful adoption story made news online this month. A mother wrote a heartfelt birthday letter to the child that she gave up for adoption 22 years ago. Said letter went viral — and is totally worth the read.

[Photo courtesy of Mail Online Video Screen Capture]