Faythe and Ryan Andrews often spend their Sunday evenings at the playground of Faith Christian Center, in Seekonk. “It’s easy to watch them here,” says Faythe. “There’s no traffic,” says Ryan, “so it doesn’t matter if they run out in the parking lot. There’s not much they can really get into.” They usually have a picnic dinner; on this outing, Ryan’s father has dropped off several pizzas.

Faythe, originally from New Bedford, is 25. Ryan, who grew up in East Providence, is 28. In January, they’ll celebrate their fourth wedding anniversary, but right now they celebrate the recent additions to their family: three siblings whose adoption was final last month. Nyakia is 4, John, 3, and Deamante, 22 months. Add the three to their two biological children — Raina, 21 months, and Tobias, 7 months, and it’s a handful.

“What we’ve done is inconceivable to most of our friends and relatives,” says Ryan, with a smile. “Some people tried to talk us out of it,” says Faythe. “ ‘How are you going to provide for all of them? It’s going to put a strain on you and Ryan.’ I would just say, ‘We’ll be fine.’ ”

“We both grew up at this church,” says Ryan. “We were four grade years apart so we didn’t talk much when we were young, but we became good friends as we got older. When we started dating, we talked about adopting kids: we both wanted eight. I didn’t think it would actually come true but it looks like it might!”

A year into their marriage, Faythe and Ryan started getting serious about adopting.

“We wanted a sibling set and we wanted them young,” says Faythe. “And because of Ryan’s background we felt very comfortable taking kids of different ethnicity. Minorities are harder to place, especially a sibling group. That made our desire to do so even stronger.”

Shortly after Faythe and Ryan finished the adoption classes, Faythe became pregnant. “They make you stop the adoption process until your child is six months old.”

“We had told them that we wanted age four and under, but never did we dream that they would come up with three four and under! These children were not yet cleared but their case was heading toward a termination, and they asked if we were willing to take a legal risk with them, which meant the parents were still involved.” Dea was nine months old, John had just turned 2, and Kia was 3.

They had already started visits with the kids when Faythe got pregnant with Toby. “Those months were long — I didn’t get out much. I had to carry Dea and Raina and was nine months pregnant. Now the two girls are walking and I can get them all in the car by myself.”

Ryan’s mother comes over once a week to help with laundry and dishes. “We don’t have a dishwasher so my poor mother-in-law finds a mountain of dishes every week.

“A woman I used to work with comes over and baby-sits once in a while just so that Ryan and I can go to the grocery store together. That’s a date!”

Their adoption social worker and the children’s pediatrician say it’s amazing how well they have adjusted to their new environment. “We forget how far we’ve come –– that John didn’t even talk when he first came to us, that Dea was so stoic and now she’s the loudest in the house, that Kia was not thinking about colors or letters or things that 4-year-olds think about.”

Faythe doesn’t know if they would have jumped into it had they really seen the whole picture. “We knew what we thought we could handle and went from there. We couldn’t possibly have predicted all the ups and downs, that I would be eight months pregnant crying on the phone with a social worker but we made it. The hard part is over.”

“Most people would think it’s just beginning,” says Ryan, “but that’s the way we see it.”

“It was the grace of God that got us through the last year. We have never been so exhausted, dealing with so much at once. Ryan and I haven’t officially slept in two years. It makes everything look easy now.

“Do we think about the teen years, or having five kids in college? If we let ourselves think that far ahead, we would be crazy. We have a rough plan for the future, but ultimately we’re trusting God.”

“At times it’s a crazy life,” says Ryan, “but it’s our life. It’s become our new normal so we’re okay with it.”

“We’d like to have one more and adopt two more,” says Faythe, “but not until at least one more is potty trained. I’ve always had three in diapers. I can’t handle another one in diapers!”

cgrosch@projo.com