Thankfulness—more than just a word to Welsh family

    With Thanksgiving only a few days away, there’s an air of anticipation rippling through the community where people are buying special holiday food items, pulling out favorite recipes, preparing to receive guests or packing for a road trip to visit family.
    Now that the pandemic threat has lost top billing in the news and masks are no longer required, freedom to gather and enjoy each other’s company is like an old friend.
    Being thankful is what the season is about, but it’s not always the focus of this holiday.
    However, one family in the community isn’t letting the holiday pass without sharing their story of thankfulness.
    Scott and Nichole Welsh and their two older children, Stephen and Giovanna, settled in Imperial in 2013, having arrived from Peru where they were missionaries for 15 years. The two siblings graduated from Chase County Schools in 2015 and 2018, respectively.
    While both children were attending college, a prompting from God led the Welshes to open their home to children in need.
    In 2017, the couple began taking in foster children, said Nichole. During the following two years, the Welshes fostered 11 children.
    “Being in foster care is hard on children. Sometimes they return to their families and sometimes they are put up for adoption,” Scott said.
    He went on to say it wasn’t always easy saying goodbye to the children they had in their care.
    In 2019, they were asked to take in four young children, all siblings. Scott said he felt the Lord had a part in them taking a step of faith to do more than just foster them.
    “I felt compelled to keep these four siblings together. After discussing it with Scott and talking it over with our two older children, we all agreed to adopt them and make them a part of our family,” Nichole said.
    The four children, with ages ranging from approximately two  to six years at the time, arrived at the Welshes’ home July 17, 2019. The adoption became final on March 17, 2020—the same day schools closed due to COVID-19, Nichole said.
    “Stefyn was the oldest and was very excited to go to kindergarten. He was very disappointed when that didn’t happen,” she said.
    “I home-schooled our two older children, so I continued to home-school our younger children prior to starting kindergarten while Stefyn continued his school work online like most school students at the time,” she said.
    That same month, the two older Welsh children moved home from college, along with Giovanna’s fiancé, and continued their school work online.
    “This made for a very full house,” Nichole laughed, “but it was a great opportunity to get to know each other quite well.”
Nearly three years later
    Stefyn just celebrated his ninth birthday. His younger twin brothers, Chrystopher and Logyn, are seven with little sister, Trinity, age five.
    “Every Wednesday, we have Welsh family worship night,” Scott said.
    “Last week, in anticipation of Thanksgiving, we asked the children what they were thankful for, and they all said ‘being a family’.”
    Scott commented now that they have the four children in their home, family can be whatever God puts together.
    “We are very thankful for family, and I don’t mean it as just a cliché. It is deeply heartfelt because God put this special relationship together,” he said.
    “God has worked with all six siblings to build a bond where all four younger children feel fully accepted and a complete part of our family,” Nichole added.
    She went on to explain that their biological children have always been included in all decisions that affect the family, and both gave their blessing to adopt the four young siblings.
    Stephen and Giovanna are now leading their own lives with Giovanna and her husband, Nathan, raising their 1-year-old son, Quinlan, with another child due in April.
    “The kids love when their older siblings are coming home. They are so excited and proud to be uncles and an aunt to our grandchildren,” Nichole said.
    It was and still is a process bonding with their adopted children, especially with Stefyn in the beginning.
    “Being the oldest of the four, he felt a responsibility for the other three. It took a while for him to actually absorb the reality that they were staying with us permanently,” she explained.
    “It’s not like giving birth to a child and bonding naturally. You have to work at it. It is our privilege to be their parents,” she said.
    Nichole said they wouldn’t be the family they are without the support of their older son, daughter and their son-in-law.
    “Unlike large cities, we live in a tight-knit community. We are so thankful that God has blessed us with the support of this community and our church family, which both are like an extended family,” Scott said. “The investment you put in your children is worth it, and time goes by way too fast.”
God’s planning
    Scott and his family lived in Champion, and he attended school at CCS until the second grade at which time his family moved to Colombia, South America to serve as missionaries. He completed his schooling there before his family moved back to the U.S. after losing his father.
    As with his parents, Scott was also called to go into missionary work and attended a language school in Missouri, studying to become a missionary. That was where he met Nichole, a native of Michigan, who was attending the missionary school, as well.
    They eventually married and began their lives as missionaries in Peru. They have now been married 26 years.
    While living in Peru, the two older Welsh siblings developed a love of playing soccer, a popular sport in that country. During the time they were all home during the pandemic, the two passed their love of soccer on to their four new siblings, and it became a favorite pastime of the family that continues to this day, said Nichole.
    “We aren’t really considering any more missionary trips because our children are our priority. Their wellbeing comes first when making family decisions. In a way, they have become our mission field,” she said, “and we are so thankful they are a part of our lives.”