What's One More?!
The Lives and Lessons of Our
19 Adopted Children
Welcome to our family's story. We invite you into the heart of the Masten home, where every child added to our table brought a new lesson in love, patience, and the boundless capacity of a family built on adoption. Join us as we share the journey of raising 19 lives together.
19
Rob and Carolyn Masten never set out to adopt nineteen children.
Over more than twenty years, one sibling group after another joined their home, turning a quiet house into a crowded, often chaotic lifestyle captured in the byline, "Every day was a day at camp; some days were a day at the zoo." All of their children were adopted, most from hard and disrupted beginnings, and each brought a unique story and set of scars.
This book is not only Rob's account. It is a shared work from Rob, Carolyn, and many of their children, written after everyone had time to look back on the years together.
Some chapters are told in the children’s own voices, others from Rob’s perspective as he weaves their memories into a single family story.
Together they write honestly about joy, conflict, imperfect parenting, teenage storms, and the deep reward of watching some of their children grow into healthy adults.
Carolyn, who died in 2021, was the heart and stabilizing force of the family. Rob describes her as the anchor who made the life of this large adoptive family possible. Their hope is that by opening their lives in these pages, readers will gain a clearer sense of what adoption really asks of parents and children, and will be encouraged to consider welcoming children into their own homes.
The Hearts Behind the Journey
Rob & Carolyn Masten and Family
Rob and Carolyn Masten built their family through adoption, welcoming children from across the United States into their home over many years. Every child arrived with a history, a set of survival skills, and hopes that did not always fit easily into family life. Together, Rob and Carolyn did their best to unwind old hurts, offer stability, and invite each child into a new story.
This book grew out of that shared life. It is not a simple memoir, but a collaboration among the twenty one family members who chose to participate. Rob gathered and shaped the material, yet the voices of the children and of Carolyn are present throughout. Some chapters speak directly from the children’s point of view. Others step back and look at key seasons in the family’s growth and strain.
Rob, Carolyn, and their children hope to offer a realistic, compassionate picture of adoption and to strengthen the courage of those who may be considering it.
What's One More!? The Lives and Lessons of Our 19 Adopted Children