You may have seen or heard of the tv shows Kate Plus Eight or 18 Kids and Counting. While the Johnston family headcount does fall in between those two shows, their story is like no other.

    With a headcount of 14 people, Officer Johnston and his wife Beth Johnston adopted 7 of their 12 kids. The process to take custody of four of those adopted children was not smooth or anywhere along the lines of easy.

    “It started with Shop with a Cop,” Officer Johnston said. “It’s a program that the FLP (Federal Police Lodge) puts on to help families in need and we do Christmas shopping with them.”

    Officer Johnston had been paired and had built a relationship with a lady named Josie Serrano and her four kids. Serrano was later diagnosed with cancer and had to get surgery. She passed away on March 5, 2014.

    “Promise me if my kids need help after I’m gone that you will step in and do whatever you have to do to help my kids,” Serrano told Beth before she passed.

    The process hit a few bumps in the road when the grandmother came into the mix. One minute the girls were in Indiana and the next they were gone.

    “The grandmother had taken the girls to Texas prior to their mother’s funeral and basically hid them away,” Officer Johnston said.

    After the Johnston family recognized that the kids were in a poor environment, they decided to take it to court. They then petitioned for guardianship of the girls.

    “We were granted guardianship by the state of Indiana, but laws in Texas don’t have to abide by a court order from Indiana,” Officer Johnston said.

    It was a battle nonetheless, but the Johnston’s were given custody and welcomed the kids with open arms. Senior Luke Johnston talks very highly of his parents and what they’ve done for these kids.

    “I don’t know anybody else that would take care of that many people and still wake up the next day to do all the tasks that come along with a big family while keeping a smile through it all,” Luke said.

    While it was never the Johnston’s intention to adopt a bunch of children or face the obstacles they did, they are now living like a normal, happy family. Officer Johnston describes himself as “the greatest soccer mom alive”.

    “I think that she (Serrano) would be happy,” Beth said. “I think she knows that we’ve tried to do what we promised.”