The Johnstons are the largest family of little people currently known in the entire world. Their family shares its stories on the TLC series 7 Little Johnstons. The family lives in Georgia, and all seven of them have the condition known as Achondroplasia Dwarfism. What is fascinating is that the family became one by birth and adoption. Parents Trent and Amber have two biological children and three which were adopted. Trent works at a Georgia college as the grounds supervisor. As international advocates for dwarfism in children, they specifically decided to enlarge their family by adopting children with the condition. Their love for their 5 children is all-embracing.
Wearing their custom T-shirts, #team 7L J, they posed for the premier of their second season of the TLC reality television show. They’ve also posed in matching, personalized red and white Christmas jammies, which looked like it was loads of fun.
Season 2 will again be filled with many milestones. Jonah is now 16, Anna is now 15, Elizabeth is 14, Emma is 11 and Alex is 10. Teasers for the new season include the celebration of Trent’s 40th birthday, Anna’s turning sweet 16 party, Amber’s painful emergency visit to the hospital and Alex’s brain surgery.
Here are five things you might not know about 7 Little Johnstons.
Jonah was born premature and spent his first six weeks of life in the NICU.
Jonah is Trent and Amber’s first-born child. The couple when through an extensive barrage of testing when they discovered that they were pregnant just five months after their marriage. They needed to determine if the baby would be of average height, have Achondroplasia, or carry dwarfism genes and be homozygous at the same time. The last option would mean the baby would die shortly after it was born. Every month of the pregnancy, their progress was monitored by a perinatologist. Jonah was delivered at 35 and a half weeks because there was no room left in Amber’s torso for him. Amber was having trouble breathing.
When Johan was delivered, he also was not breathing or crying. He was lifeless, but the doctors revived him and he was placed on a ventilator. Jonah’s first year included much time in the hospital with surgeries for various issues with his premature birth and dwarfism.
Elizabeth had brain surgery when she was eight weeks old.
Elizabeth is Trent and Amber’s second-born child. She also has Achondroplasia Dwarfism, just as Jonah does. Amber’s pregnancy was also difficult with Elizabeth. Amber’s hips became dislocated repeatedly. She was 51 inches around at her largest pregnant size, but still only 48 inches tall. After Anna was born via Cesarean section, Amber had a tubal ligation, and could no longer bear children.
As a teenager, Anna has had femur and corrective ankle surgery.
Anna was adopted from a Russian orphanage in Siberia.
Anna was just four at the time. Amber had been a district director for the Little People of America. Shepherd’s Crook adoption ministry sent her an email asking if she could help the ministry find a home for a Russian child with Achondroplasia Dwarfism. The ministry sent Amber the biography for Anna, and both Trent and Anna decided that the girl was destined to become their adopted daughter.
Trent and Amber only had one trip approved by Russia to bring Anna home to the United States. In June 2004, they landed in Moscow, and then flew to Siberia three days later. Anna’s dwarfism required special instructions and discussion about her medical history. Anna arrived in Atlanta, Georgia on July 8. She’s had spinal fusion surgery and is entering her teen years now.
Alex was adopted from South Korea when he was 6 months old.
South Korea requires that the full adoption fee be paid when the process begins. Trent and Amber wanted to adopt this baby with Achondroplasia Dwarfism, but they did not have the funds to pay the fee. They spoke with their pastor at church, and he suggested fundraising. But a church couple volunteered to give Trent and Amber the full $15,150 dollars they needed to pay Alex’s adoption fee. The only things that arrived with Alex were his diaper bag. An airline escort brought him on the airplane to Georgia. Within a few months after Alex came to live with his new family, Show Hope and Gift of Adoption gave them a grant. They were able to give the money back to the family who funded the adoption fee.
Alex was the first Asian child in their family, and they hoped that they would be able to adopt a second Asian child with dwarfism.
Emma was adopted from a Chinese orphanage.
She had been abandoned when she was five, so leaving the only home she knew was terrifying for her. Emma’s orphanage home was in Baoding. Emma was close to Alex’s age, and the Johnstons felt that she would be an excellent companion for the younger Alex. Trent and Amber took a plane flight to Beijing. Then they rode for two hours by train to reach the province where Emma lived. After five days in Baoding, they took a plane to Guanzhou to complete the adoption paperwork and swearing in ceremony. Emma came home to her new family on October 23, 2010.
The Johnstons, are sometimes teased with a loving pinch when called “The Seven Little Dwarfs” in news articles. But they are a resilient and loving family who are sharing their struggles and successes as they live life. Most everything can be challenging when the world is built for big people and the family is comprised of little ones. But, the Johnstons are taking it all in stride, and have invited the world to join them through all of it.
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