Meet the Flynn Family!
Largely due to the pandemic, 2020 has brought unprecedented challenges to our family of 16 (2 parents, 2 birth children, and 12 children we adopted). We have seen Kelly’s business of 33 years collapse overnight. We have gone from having money in the bank to having no one at the bank willing to help. We are watching the home we designed and built with our own hands begin the march toward foreclosure. Especially frustrating is the long wait—33 weeks at the time of this writing—for a payment from our overwhelmed state unemployment system. Meanwhile, we are wondering how to deal with our children’s medical expenses due to their special needs.
We are handling these adversities the way we have always handled obstacles before—with resiliency, humility, family unity, and our deep faith in God. Our faith is the bedrock our family is built on. Our future is uncertain, but through it all we know one thing: we do not know what tomorrow holds but we know Who holds tomorrow.
When I (Jennifer) think of enormous challenges, I think of our precious son Matthew, who endured much challenge indeed. Mathew is the 11th child we adopted but the 6th child to join our family.
Matt was in and out of foster care his whole childhood until he entered our lives at age 17 in a foster placement 10 years ago. He quickly became a brother to our first five children. As an adolescent, Matt knew that he wanted a career in the Marines and his determination never wavered. As the next decade passed, his life and career flourished. He is now a member of the elite MARSOC (Special Ops) team and in a wonderful marriage to Ashlee.
We may not have been the one to choose his name for him, but Matthew’s name means exactly who (and what) he is: “A gift from God.” We considered Matthew our son from the day he arrived, but we had never made legal what had been written on all of our hearts since the beginning.
“Adoption granted!” the judge said on May 14, 2019. Our 28-year-old son was officially made a family member this day. One never ages out of the need for a forever family.
To make that adoption celebration even more special, Matt and Ashlee informed us that day that we were going to be grandparents. From that day forward, a legacy of generations who persevered and placed their trust in God made the definition of family real to all who call us Mama and Daddy.
