LOXLEY, Ala. — Angie and Gordon Lipscomb were busy raising Tyler, 15, Sarah Beth, 10, Caroline, 8, and Meredith, 4.

That’s a good number of kids for any family but three youngsters have been added to the Lipscomb family, Levi, 2, and four-month-old twins Gabriella and Gabriel. The three new members of the Lipscomb family are from Haiti, and are brothers and sister.

“The Lord put it on our hearts to adopt,” explained Angie. After more soul-searching and talking with each other, the couple decided to pursue an international adoption.

“We were praying about it,” said Angie. Angie is a licensed practical nurse with Association for Retarded Citizens, and Gordon is a lineman with Baldwin EMC.

By last October, the couple was ready to go public with their plan.

“We told friends we were going to adopt,” said Angie. “We did not know age or gender.”

But the Lipscombs didn’t know where the new addition to the family would come from.

Then a friend who was working with a church mission in Haiti showed them a photo of twins.

“They were four hours old,” said Angie. “We also heard about their older brother, Levi.”

The Lipscombs heard the twins’ story (their mother died in childbirth) and that originally Levi was to be raised by a relative. The relative later changed his mind, and now Levi was at the crèche or orphanage run by Lashbrook Family Ministry International 125 miles out side of Port-au -Prince with his sister and brother. The Lipscombs planned to visit the children at the end of January. They had started the sometimes lengthy and torturous process of adoption.

On Jan. 12, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake on the Richter scale struck Haiti. It is estimated that between 217,000 and 230,000 died in the quake. About 300,000 were injured and more than a million were homeless. The Lipscombs, along with other prospective adoptive parents, decided to go to Haiti, bringing supplies that the the orphanage could not obtain. Some of the supplies were donated by Central Christian School.

Many of the orphanage staff has family in Port-au-Prince, so had left to try to find them. That left a skeleton staff to care for the 118 children in the mission. The mission had been damaged. The schoolhouse was unsafe, the crèche, where the youngest children were (including the Lipscomb’s children) was unsafe, so the children were moved to other buildings.

“The first day we were caring for 24 children,” said Gordon.

The supplies the prospective parents brought were badly needed. The banking system had collapsed and there was no cash on hand to buy things like formula, even if there was any to be had.

“She (the director of the orphanage) had about a half can of baby formula,’” recalled Gordon.

The cash and the supplies helped stabilize the situation, and slowly, the situation returned to something approaching normal. The crèche and other buildings have to be replaced.

In the meantime, the Lipscombs got to know Levi, 2, Gabriella and Gabriel.

To say they fell in love would be an understatement.

“The twins barely weighed 6-7 pounds,’ said Angie. Considering that most infants in this country are 5-8 pounds at birth, this was very undersized. It was important that the Lipscombs get the children back to Alabama.

Then permission came through for the Lipscombs and other adoptive parents to take their children home with them. While there are still paperwork hurdles, the three youngsters are now settled in Loxley. The Lipscombs plan to send them to Central Christian School.

And the twin are doing well. All three children have been to an area pediatrician and have clean bills of health.

“They have gained 5 pounds apiece here,’ said Angie with some satisfaction.

Levi, who speaks mostly Creole, is rapidly learning more and more English words. He loves playing with his big sister Meredith. The Lipscombs have learned some Creole words like “sit” and “night-night” to help him along.

Of course when the Lipscombs left, they did not expect to be bringing home three children. Friends, family members and members of their church, the First Assembly of God in Robertsdale, brought supplies. People at Baldwin EMC held a baby shower for the Lipscombs.

“I had not thought of what the process would be with three babies,” chuckled Gordon.

“It is a blessing the way it all worked out,” said Angie.