How Just 2 Became 5: Our Story

Hey everyone my name is Elizabeth Hardin and I am 25 years old. I am happily married to my high school sweet heart Caleb and we are going on 6 and half years strong. We have 2 biological children, Izsabella (Bella,5) and Michael(3). Also in our home is our bonus baby, my youngest sister Patricia (Tia as the kids call her), and she is 12. Caleb and I met in High School through a mutual friend. He was dating one of my good friends from high school. My friend and I decided that it would be fun to go on a double date with our boyfriends. It was in the McDonald's parking lot in Bridgeport, Texas that I met the man of my dreams though I would not realize that for a few more months. We finished our double date and went our ways with no further communication until not long after our double date we each found ourselves single. One day I got this random message from a boy I barely even knew. It read "Hey I'm going through my texts and found your number. How are you?" From that text history was made. We texted and talked on the phone for a few weeks since we lived an hour apart. And then finally after forever he asked me on a date. He took me to Chicken Express for our first "date" where his friend proceeded to eat my food. I remember thinking how handsome he was and how comfortable I felt around him. We dated for almost a year before we decided to get married. Secretly I might add but more on that later. When you know you just know!!

Soon after we got married we learned that we were expecting our first child. We were very ecstatic as we learned she would be a girl. We couldn't wait to start our family. Pregnancy and labor where a dream with our first, no hiccups at all! Nine months after we were married we welcomed sweet Baby Bella into our lives.

This was an exciting time in our lives as we became parents and home owners within 6 months. We decided to settle down in a little town called Paradise, ironic I know. We lived as a family of three for about a year and a half when we learned that we were expecting again. We had been trying to conceive for about six months and we were over the moon excited.

But sadly our excitement was brought down by a devastating phone call. On June 13, 2016 we learned we had lost our home, to a house fire. Here we were with an 18 month old, pregnant, and no where to go and only the clothes on our back. That was a trying time for sure. Thankfully we accidentally had a wonderful insurance policy that put us in a hotel room the very next day. However, the biggest blessing during that time was our community and support system who rallied behind us. Several churches organized meal trains to bring us food to our hotel room. Family and friends collected clothes for us and even bought Bella new toys to play with since she had lost everything as well. I forgot to mention that around November of 2015 my oldest brother Antonio had come to live with us to finish his last year of High School. So add him into all of that and it was a crazy adventure. I can not thank those people that gave so selflessly to help us at that time. I don't know what we would have done had it not been for our wonderful community. Back to the accidental wonderful insurance policy. We were still very young at this point and did not know a whole lot about anything. I knew we needed home insurance but was not aware of what to look for. I went to our bank and told them what I could afford monthly and signed a piece of paper. Looking back probably not the best philosophy for picking plans, but turns out it was a great policy. It paid off the old house and allowed us to purchase the land for cash. We were also fortunate enough to be able to put half down on a new mobile home to be put on our newly owned property. We moved into our new home the beginning of September 2016.

While all that is going on my ex-stepfather, the father of my youngest sister, passed away. So while we are dealing with house fires and moving around we were trying to get custody of my youngest sister. She had been living with her dad since our mother had been in prison. In November 2016 Patricia came to live with us. So at this time in our home was Caleb, myself, Bella, Patty, and soon to be new baby, but this pregnancy wasn't cupcakes and roses. I had several UTI's this go around that were no fun. The other big thing that happened was that we started having contractions at 30 weeks. I was put in the hospital for several weeks and on bed rest for several more. However, on January 30, 2017 we welcomed Michael into our family.

Sadly, once again our joy was short lived. On February 1st we lost a custody battle with Patricia's stepmom and the judged ruled she be sent back to live with her.

So we were a family of 5 for a few days then went back to a family of 4. Patricia moved from home to home for several years after this judgment. We continued to fight for Patty until fast forward to July 2019 when Patricia was placed back in our home and has been with us since. I will share more on her story at a later time but we couldn't be happier to be a family of 5.

Life may get hectic at times and people may look at me funny when I tell them that I have a 12,5, and 3 year old and I am only 25 but I would trade our crazy hectic and unusual family for anything!