Once in a while you come across a story that moves you right to the core; this is one of them.

The Baron Family of Washington State has three grown biological children and eleven adopted children. Five of the adopted children have disabilities. When you look at the photo (which I can’t post, but you can click the link to see), you see a mini-United Nations that is working well.

The adopted children range in age from nine to eighteen, and hail from Guatemala, Ethiopia and Russia. The parents say it has never been easy, and recount a particularly difficult year when they had five three year olds in potty training at the same time.

An extremely close knit family, they are home schooled and very musically inclined. Nine of the children play string instruments, and Liza (born in Russia) and Mario (born in Guatemala) were going to be performing with the Tacoma Youth Symphony Orchestra this Christmas season.

Their plans for this holiday season were to travel through California and New Mexico performing at several churches, eventually ending up in Atlanta to spend Christmas with the three older sons. Unfortunately the family van broke down and their plan didn’t reach fruition.

Now comes the tragic part of this big, happy family: their strong, loving mother, Lori, has had ovarian cancer and now has a rare blood disorder caused by chemotherapy. She is fighting for her life and so far is amazing her doctors. Family and friends have been kind and generous since she was first diagnosed in November 2006.

And how is the family surviving this ordeal? Well, the oldest daughter, Galina, who is planning on attending college later, is keeping things in order. Their father has a computer business and works from home. The children all participate in the chores and the cooking and also home school each other. The older children transport the younger children to music lessons and other activities. They are a close knit unit and they are taking care of each other.

Mario, who is a very talented violin player, was born in Guatemala and thinks about perhaps visiting Guatemala in the future. It was because of Mario that eight of his siblings began playing musical instruments. Maybe one day we’ll hear about Mario traveling to Guatemala to perform and inspire the children there.

This family is going to be on my mind for a long time. Miracles happen and they deserve one. Bless them all.

photo credit