The inhabitants of Seraphim Mountain are a tight knit family which currently includes members of 5 species, not including wildlife. The human population are the Roberts Family. Will and Tara have been married since 1988. Graduating from the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine in 1994, we began our careers and began to "practice" the art of helping and healing animals. We have since then been blessed with 11, yes, 10 Plus 1, amazing kids!!! The first of these is David Matthias Roberts, who was born in 1996. He was born after a whopping 1 hour and 20 minutes in the hospital. We have been chasing him ever since. People told us that this was fairly incredible, and that subsequent children often arrived more quickly. Yeah right...more quickly than 80 minutes in the hospital? Number two is Barak Elijah Roberts, who was born in the passenger seat of an Honda Accord on I-69 in Detroit MI in 1998. We no longer have the Accord, but have kept Barry. The car got a real thorough cleaning after his birth, which was not a neat ordeal. Tara wished it had gotten a thorough cleaning before the birth. I think she might be a little too sensitive, after all, the popcorn kernels from the floor mats wiped right off of Barry after I picked him up (slippery little guys when they first come out). The third to arrive was Daniel Josiah Roberts, born in 2000. Bound and determined not to be left behind by his older brothers, D.J. is a real trooper, studying everything his siblings do. He started his studying at delivery, as he was by far the longest birth. Well over 10 hours. We figure he knew he had two older brothers, and didn't want to be lost in the shuffle, so he wanted a more lengthy if not quite so dramatic an entrance. Will was fond of him right from the start, since he didn't have to clean the car. So much for shorter birth times with each child. Nyah Nyah! Micah Elizabeth Roberts was born in 2002 in the Walmart Parking Lot on Clinton Hwy in the passenger seat of an Honda Odyssey. After having accomplished what was now a fairly routine automobile delivery, the debate was on whether to just turn around and go home, or to precede to the Hospital. Not wanting to disappoint our OB, we got back on the road and continued on to the hospital. Will was visibly disappointed that he wasn't allowed to pause at a drive thru and get a milkshake. (Hey, it's hard work for the guy too you know... and guess who had to clean up the car....again!) Then there was the 5th child. We were excited to have another little boy on the way. Will's biggest fear was that we still owned a Honda (a Passport) and if we drove it, it might result in another sudden stop without a milkshake. At that point, the car had not been cleaned, but since Will was on the Adkins type diet, there was no popcorn on the floor for the child to get covered in when eased cautiously into the world (i.e. dropped on the floor mats). The bad news was if you know much about the Adkins diet, you'd probably prefer being dropped in popcorn than what was on the floor! (Although pork rinds are fairly soft and cushiony) And at last it happened, Gabriel Elisha Roberts was born. Not in the car as was feared/hoped (we did have visions of a great Honda commercial with a woman giving birth first in an Accord, then in an Odyssey, then in our Passport) but he gave his own level of excitement coming into this world. He is healthy and hearty and already showing true Roberts spirit, commanding most of our attention. We feel truly blessed for his health and that of Tara as she has made a speedy recovery, and is back at the helm of a true house full!!
As is painfully obvious in this picture, we seem to have had a disparity in the male to female relationship. With this estrogen imbalance threatening to get out of control (or as some more cynical members of the family have suggested, the testosterone level was getting out of hand) we decided to import some fresh genetics to our family. Enter, our three beautiful new daughters, rescued from war torn Liberia: Shachia Princess Roberts, Keilah Sarah Roberts, and Lydia Korto Roberts. These three girls have blended so amazingly that we know the relationship is of God and we have been thoroughly Blessed by their arrival in our hearts an home. Their origin and Liberian story can be viewed, but as they are full fledged Roberts', expect all updates and news to continue on our group pages (no special treatment!)
So you'd imagine this would be enough, but, well, it isn't. We had a little girl in November 2008, Michaiah Joelle, despite the fact that we hadn't a Honda in which to birth her. This time we weren't able to make it to any sort of vehicle, and so she was born at home! We also have been blessed through Liberian adoption again. We adopting the aunt of Tara's sister's adopted girl (try to figure out that relationship. I mean, if Tara's sister's child is the neice to her child, does that make them the same person??? (Tara and her sister, I mean, not the sisters, if that makes any sense). She arrived safely after a prolonged adoption saga. As Liberia goes through growing pains governmentally, new regulations to assure there are adequate barriers to child trafficking have slowed the process down. This is absolutely a good thing, as no one should abide by child slavery etc..., however it did put off our reunion with our daughter for over 6 extra months!!! Now that she's here, her smile is such an integral part of our daily life that we can't remember not having her. She came to us Sundayma, and now is called Naomi. We are blessed to be caretakers of her through the rest of her childhood and hope to give her a future that would not have been possible in West Africa.
Further invited inhabitants of our mountain include a wonderful cat, named "Tiger Shark", who has passed the initiation and has proven tolerant and even loving despite continual hugs, tugging fingers, and the occasional pokes and prods. We have been stymied by predator problems, one is a dog, the other we assume is a raccon, whom have together teamed up to ensure we have no other cats or chickens. We love the dog, except his cat eating and chicken killing aspects, and really would love the racoon... as a hat. Finally, we have our canine friends. The last of our rescued dogs, Padme', a Rottweiler with horrible hip dysplasia, commands the mountain and keep the frogs and bugs at bay. We were gifted a wonderful puppy as recompense for whelping the litter from a local police dog. The puppy, a Belgian Malanois named "Reaver" has become an energetic part of our daily routine. So far, he refuses to be contained by anything as mundane as a 6 foot chain link enclosure, and so he decides for the most part where to hang out. Despite some difficult times with our first crop of Standard Poodles, we continue on, older yet wiser. We have been Blessed to have gained Rosie from Moonstone Poodles, and she has proven to be a sweet dog.