Sarah (Spring 2016)

                        Happy Sweet 16 ! 

Sarah is a major help to the family. On top of finishing her high school diploma and taking online college classes, Sarah helps babysit the kids so Karen and Andrew manage therapy and doctor appointments. She also helps by making dinners and cleaning the house. Sarah currently works full time at Chick-Fil-A, and we all love visiting her and playing in their playplace!

Noah is always quick to give kisses

Elizabeth (Spring 2016)

Soccer Star!

Happy 14th Birthday!!  March, 2014

Elizabeth was adopted just before she turned 3 and is now 16.  She is thrilled to be working towards a service dog for the family.  She loves animals and is convinced that the dog will help all of her little brothers.

It's always fun when the big sister gets married!

                                                         Elizabeth's "Gotcha" Day.  The judge gave her a beanie baby!

Benjamin & Aaron (Spring 2016)

Benjamin and Aaron came to live with us at Christmas time 5 1/2  years ago, Benjamin was 6 and Aaron was only 4.  They are full siblings to each other, and we were quick to fall in love with these boys,  It was a great Christmas for everyone!

The first time that Grandma met Aaron and Benjamin was at a Labor Day Parade.

Benjamin and Titus snuggle while watching TV.

Samuel & Aaron too busy to just watch TV!

Benjamin is 11 years old and is in fifth grade. He LOVES sha
rks and can answer most questions about them.  Benjamin is quick to help a younger sibling and is proud to be a big brother!

Room on the purple dinosaur for Aaron and Benjamin! 

Benjamin is 11 years old and is in fifth grade. He LOVES sharks and can answer most questions about them.  Benjamin is quick to help a younger sibling and is proud to be a big brother!

Aaron is 9 years old and is in third grade. He is extremely curious and thus loves school and reading. Aaron also enjoys helping out and being apart of a team.

Samuel, Noah, & Titus (Spring 2016)

Noah and Samuel's "GOTCHA" day at the courthouse!

We received a phone call early in January, 2009, just a few days after we had received our Illinois foster license.  "Can you take a baby?"  was the question I heard!  "YES WE CAN!"

Baby Titus was just a few days old for his big brother's adoption day in court!

Samuel was about 3 months old, and he showed up at our home in the late hours of the night!  It was just a few months later when the phone rang again: "Samuel has a sibling coming next year, do you want him/her?"  "YES WE DO!"  In January, 2010 Noah was born and came home to live with us!   Then, once again, the same story happened again.  "Samuel and Noah have a sibling being born in the fall of 2011, do you want him/her?"  "YES WE DO!" 

Samuel is ready to start driving.  OH NO!!

Samuel is 7 1/2 going on 16. He loves school and sports. One thing we love about Samuel is his special “Samuel smile” which he is quick to share.  He is a very loving and compassionate kid!  If you want to know anything about football, the Cowboys or the Bears, just ask Samuel!

Noah said "This is my EXCITED face!"

Noah, who is already 6, LOVES trains! He loves playing with trains, looking at trains, and watching any movie that has a train. Noah has the best laugh - and once he starts with that giggle - it’s difficult for him to shut it off!

Titus got dressed to play outside - and Yes, it is 75 degrees on this day!

Titus, who is 4, also loves trains. Titus is a huge ball of energy, and often will be found chasing someone around the house, trying to scare them.  Since Titus has been learning to talk more, he is the 'keeper of the rules' and makes sure everyone else is following them! 

This is how we watch TV - does it seem strange to you?

  The boys wanted to take silly pictures,
    and of course their sisters joined in!

Ready for church 

Grandma and Grandpa Beaty (Spring 2016)

Grandpa Frank Beaty & Grandma Judie Beaty

Grandpa and Grandma have been married 50 years!  

Grandpa at the zoo with the boys

Grandma and  Grandpa Beaty moved to Bloomington in order to be available to help out. They live less than a block away and the little boys have already learned how to get to their house. Grandma and Grandpa are filling their toy box for the kids and are a great support to Mom and Dad.

The kids are enjoying the fish hatchery with Grandma

Hannah was quick to tell Grandpa what she needed for Christmas!

Grandma entertains Noah

Aaron and Benjamin are helping Grandpa by measuring his shelf in his new house!

Uncle Travis & Aunt Esther (Spring 2016)

Aunt Esther and Uncle Travis enjoying their anniversary date!

Aunt Esther (Andrew’s sister) and her husband Travis and their 5 kids moved to Bloomington-Normal (all the way from Montona) last year as well to help with the boys!  They have three teenagers, Elizabeth, Joshua, & Josiah, and the two younger girls - Abbi and Becca!  

Aunt Esther spoils Titus by letting him play on her tablet.  That's ok!

Cousins Abbi and Becca 

"Please, Aunt Esther. Let me jump in the water!"

Fun times playing with cousins!

We made the news! (December 2014)

In December our local newspaper, The Pantagraph, wrote an article about us.  

Andrew and Karen Beaty of Bloomington pose with eight of their 11 children including Joseph, standing in back, Samuel, Johnmark, Noah and Sarah, all on the couch, and Aaron, Titus and Benjamin, kneeling in front.

BLOOMINGTON — Aaron Beaty, age 8, was doing math homework at the kitchen table with help from his father, as Benjamin, 10, did homework at the kitchen counter; Samuel, 6, played outside; Noah, 4, played with water in the sink; and Titus, 3, drank water directly from the faucet at the kitchen sink.

Joseph Beaty makes laundry chores fun for Titus before helping Noah.

Then Samuel ran into the house and screamed, hit a door and a stool and kicked the door and a laundry basket after his mother, Karen, asked him to check his job chart.

"He's having a meltdown," Karen explained as she hugged Samuel and encouraged him to take deep breaths to calm down.

Meanwhile, Noah said "hot, hot, hot," referring to the water temperature. Sister Sarah, 16, checked the water temperature, discovered it wasn't hot but encouraged him to move to another activity.

Benjamin and Aaron were distracted but returned to their homework. Titus continued to drink from the water faucet.

A few minutes later, Samuel began crying and was calmed down again. Noah and Titus — who had been chasing each other — together climbed up a small, plastic slide in a children's "sensory room."

Joseph helps Titus with his laundry before dinner.

"This isn't going to end well," Sarah said to their father, Andrew. She asked the boys to slide down individually rather than jump off. They obliged.

Karen, wearing a shirt that read "Autism: I See the Potential," said "We don't thrive on perfection. But there's a huge need for foster and adoptive parents."

Andrew and Karen Beaty, who live in Bloomington, have 11 children. Their five elder children are their biological children and their six younger children are adopted.

"We don't like to define 'bio-kids" and 'adopted kids' because, in our hearts, there's no difference in how we love any of them," Karen said.

But all six of their adopted children have special needs, such as autism, disruptive behavior disorder and learning disabilities. In some of the children, special needs were complicated by prenatal exposure to drugs and alcohol and abuse and neglect suffered at a young age.

"It's controlled chaos but it's good," Sarah said. "If we hadn't taken these kids in, we would be disobeying what God said to take care of the widows and orphans. The house might be messy but the kids are still here."

Sarah, 16, and Joseph, 20, play with Noah, left, and Titus in the kitchen as the Beaty family finishes chores and prepares for dinner. Andrew and Karen Beaty don't know how they could care for their special needs children without help from their older children.

The Beatys' older children are Caleb, 24, who lives with his wife Carina about a mile from his parents; Hannah, 22, who lives with her husband Jordan in Washington but calls or Skypes two to three times a day; Joseph, 20, a Heartland Community College student who lives in Normal; Johnmark, 18, a Heartland student who lives at home; and Sarah, 16, who is homeschooled and lives at home.

Their adopted children, and their disabilities, are:

• Elizabeth, 14, an eighth-grader who is living in Kemmerer Village in Assumption, a residential treatment facility, as she deals with various mental health issues.
• Benjamin, 10, a fourth-grader at Fox Creek Elementary School — attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, developmental delays, learning disabilities and anxiety disorder.
• Aaron, 8, a second-grader at Fox Creek — ADHD and anxiety disorder.
• Samuel, 6, in kindergarten at Fox Creek — autism (though not yet diagnosed), ADHD, sensory processing disorder and sleep disorder.
• Noah, 4, in preschool at Brigham Early Learning Center — autism, sensory processing disorder, feeding disorder, speech delays, seizure disorder and sleep disorder.
• Titus, 3, in preschool at Brigham — autism, sleep disorder, language delays, childhood apraxia of speech, sensory processing disorder, ADHD and disruptive behavior disorder.

Andrew Beaty helps Aaron, 8, with his homework after school on Dec. 2.

Andrew, 47, an ordained Baptist minister, is assistant director of instructional quality for distance learning with Moody Bible Institute. That means he provides online teaching and coaching for Moody professors worldwide — a job that allows him to work from home and pursue a doctorate in education from ISU.

Karen, 46, is a stay-at-home mom.

Sarah holds Noah as he grabs for Karen's hand as the family prepares for their evening meal.

In 2000, while the Beatys were living in South Dakota, Andrew was representing the faith community on a countywide child protection league when he was inspired by a Bible passage to become a foster parent. He and Karen were trained and Elizabeth came to them as a 3-month-old in May 2001.

"We worked for 18 months to 2 years to reunify her with her mother until her mother came to us and asked 'Would you adopt her?'" Karen recalled. They did.

During the next three years, they fostered 20 children, including after they returned to Illinois in 2005. They took in Samuel in January 2009, his newborn brother Noah shortly afterward, Benjamin and his brother Aaron on Christmas Eve 2010 and Titus in 2012.

Karen Beaty of Bloomington loves all her children which include Titus and Noah, who have disabilities. Six of the Beaty's 11 children are adopted and all six have special needs.

But why did the Beatys decide to adopt the five boys?

"The need was huge and we had the skill set and ability to work with the kids," Andrew said.

"Because they needed to see God's love," Karen said.

Because some of the children had been exposed prenatally to drugs and alcohol and had been neglected or abused early in life, living in foster care was not the best choice for them, Karen said. "These boys needed a forever home."

"Some people can handle one kid and that's it," she continued. "There's nothing wrong with that. But God has gifted us. I can handle a lot of kids."

"We have the skill set, the education and the support system," Andrew said.

In addition to help from their older children, the Beatys get help from Andrew's parents, sister and her family who live nearby; from friends at Charis Community Church; from the adoption preservation group at The Baby Fold, and from therapy services at Easter Seals. The boys have about a dozen therapy sessions a week, down from 25 during summer.

Karen Beaty opens a locked case to dispense some of the 60 pills that she gives to her five younger boys each day. Each boy's pill case is marked with his name and color code.

Even with all the support, the Beatys must be organized. Doors and gates are locked because children with autism tend to run or wander; security cameras are up in several rooms so the parents and older children can keep tabs on the younger boys; some of the boys' items — such as backpacks, coats, towels, blankets and laundry baskets — are color-coded; medicines (about 60 pills are dispensed each day) are kept in a locked case with color-coded trays; and a "sensory room" with things like weighted blankets and a "quiet play" pen allow the boys to calm down.

Sarah Beaty helps her dad, Andrew, put the food from the food bank away in the cabinets.

"It's a different lifestyle," Andrew admitted of raising adoptive children with special needs. "But it's doable and their lives will be better. We're obviously not perfect parents and everything doesn't go according to plan. But we keep working on it and, at the end, we come out stronger."

   

The Beaty family of Bloomington is introduced to strangers via cartoon characters on the back of their van.