By Janet White
The 700 Club

Dave and Cheri Bollmann had four children, but then the Lord wanted them to gain custody for seven more.

Lolly Lane sounds like a place you would read about in a fairy tale, but it's quite real. And on this street in Virginia, lives a family with a very special story to tell.

The Bollmanns are the only family living on Lolly Lane. Perhaps that symbolizes one of the many special things about them. But to reveal just how special the Bollmanns are, you have to track their story back a few years.

Dave and Cheri Bollmann had 4 children: David, Kelly, Stacie and Sarah. The family had an outreach to their neighborhood kids- C.L.U.B. - Children Living Under the Bible.

Cheri: "So every Monday night kids would come to our home throughout the neighborhood and we would do a Bible study with them. We had lots of games and fun, and that was kind of a highlight for our family. God had laid such a desire on our heart for children and families."

In May of 1997 a new family moved next door. A father and his seven children (Country, E.J., Steven, Drew, Nancy, Cinnamon, and Christopher.)"

David, the Bollmans son: "I met E.J. and Steven out on the basketball court. We were still home schooling then. I look out and I see these two kids playing on the hoop and I was asked 'Who is that?' I was like, all right cool. So Kelly and I went out and played. I remember meeting them and right away we bonded."

Cheri: "I met the kids right off first thing in the morning. And apparently they had arrived that evening previously. They had been traveling -- relative to relative. Sometimes sleeping in the station wagon and pretty much homeless at the time. Cinnamon's first words to me were 'Will you be my mommy?' So immediately I knew something wasn't right.

"Dave and I knew that there were so many needs that were not being met. So we're here and it was obvious that we needed to pour out some type of support into their life."

It was normal for the Bollman's to open their home to the neighborhood kids. But something very special was happening in their hearts for these seven kids.

Cheri: "Sometimes two or three kids would come over and we would have a meal together. I was still home schooling so I invited a couple of kids to home school with us. Therefore I recognized that there was a very large gap in their education.

"We were just daily laying down our life and whatever our plans were for the summer or that year of 1997. We just looked in the eyes of these children and even the heart of the father who really wanted to do what was right for his children. There were some skills and abilities that he did not have to carry out his task as a father for all seven."

Cheri: "I knew then that God was birthing something for us to go deeper and further. But not even knowing the full picture. So for those few months it was just the kids bonding and blending.

"They would be playing basketball together or brushing each other's hair. So it was very much a process. It was all very much allowing God to work and seeing that this is the path we are on."

Cheri spent more time home schooling all the children. The kids grew even closer. But the Bollmanns always knew the seven kids would move again. They were right.

Dave: "They had just come to the end of their resources and just said, 'We just can't do it any longer.' We looked at it in three ways. Either we could, as the kids were driving off that day, pretend that we had never met them because if you'd known them your hearts will go with them. We could call Social Services. Years and years before this, we had sat through some foster care classes and we understood that they would split those seven kids.

"Our third choice was to invite them to come and live with us for a period of time and take care of them while their Dad was able to get a job… get settled and get a home. That was our intent to help during a very short period of time."

The day the family left, Dave and Cheri told the father to call if he needed help with the children.

Dave: "Our house was only a 1,500-square-foot house. We had one bathroom. But we had to talk and we said, 'Can we temporarily help out here?' We gave the option to the Dad that if he chose he could have the kids stay with us for a period of time."

A week later the father took Dave up on his offer. He asked the Bollmans to look after his children for a while. It was a huge adjustment, but the excitement outweighed the challenges.

Dave: "That's when reality sunk in. Wow. We have a 1,500-square-foot house with one bath. How are we going to work this?"

Cheri: "I think at that time we had the smallest kitchen in Virginia Beach and the largest family at the time. We immediately decided we need to eat in shifts. So right that very morning we had certain people in the kitchen and other ones making up their beds."

E.J.: "For me it was like one big party. Every day it was like a party, so I was like I can deal with this."

Now the agreement was supposed to be temporary. But unfortunately the children's father didn't keep his end of the bargain.

Dave: "The plan in our minds was that he would go and get a place. Get the job and give us a call. Then OK, 'I'm coming to get them.' It didn't happen. It was very hard on the children, very difficult."

Cheri: "We said that we're going to stand in the gap for your parents at this time and be your Godparents. They had a whole different set of emotions.

"Our biological children have needs and their needs need to be met and so do these seven. They're all different. Just individual needs. So you had the separate family needs and the individual needs."

Dave: "So right away we knew that we were in this pretty deep, and we needed to stay in tune with what God was doing in our lives."

Eventually the Bollmanns received legal custody as foster parents for the seven children. Now, the adjustments began. It wasn't easy. But they wanted to blend as a family.

Cheri: "Food and laundry and laundry and food. But we saw God just intervene. As soon as we took that step in faith and He met us and it was exciting to watch."

Dave: "The kids really started bonding. It was amazing. Personalities started coming out and just watching their interaction it was like, three would go off and do this … and another four would go and do this and just watching them play together and interact. There were certainly times of quarrels, I'm not saying it wasn't that. There were certainly more times that we saw their hearts becoming knit together. We didn't know what was going to happen."

But just as they were settling into their daily routine, they received unexpected visitors.

Cheri: "I opened up the front door and one of the social workers very firmly stated that we have a court order to take all seven children and you have 10 minutes to hand over the children."

17-year-old Country remembers: "It tore me apart because were moving again. I didn't know I was going to see the Bollmans again. I didn't know what was going to happen. I was speechless. I couldn't do anything. I had tears in my eyes I was like what is going on?"

Cheri: "So I walked back into the house and immediately called my pastor and prayed over the phone."

They were in shock and heartbroken. Cheri remembers a moment they shared before they were taken away.

Cheri: "We all stood in our front yard and amidst the social workers and a midst the tears with all the struggle going on we started singing 'Amazing Grace.' And I just remember thinking 'His grace has to be here. His grace has to be here.'"

The Bollmans had four days to get references and appear before the court to fight for custody of the children. The court received hundreds of letters verifying the Bollmans character.

Dave: "And we had prayed that the judge's heart would be softened and that whether the kids came with us or went somewhere else that it was God's will."

They appeared before the judge to plead their case on behalf of the children. With much joy, their prayers were answered.

Cheri: "The judge listened to both cases from both sides. And he looked at Social Services and said… 'We need to get these kids back to these people right now.'"

The Bollmanns received custody of all seven children. In August of 1998 the parental rights of the birth parents were terminated. Dave and Cheri felt it was only natural for them to adopt the seven kids.

Today the Bollmanns would say their family is now complete.

Dave: "It would be pretty boring for us. I think because the lives have blended so well together. I can't even imagine what it would be like not to have them."

What is most evident about this family is the love and joy they share with one another.

Cheri: "We are daily walking out … laying down our life for each other. And identifying with Jesus. When we are identifying with Jesus then the world sees Jesus through us."

Check out their web site! We Are Blended