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Hickory family to be on 'Oprah' today
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Published: October 2, 2009
HICKORY - The number of children in the average American family may be dwindling, but Sonya and Russell Schweigardt's family is a long way from average.
They've got 11 children with one on the way, and they'll be on the Oprah Winfrey Show today to tell their story.
Sonya Schweigardt said the show is a follow-up to a 2006 show about families from the Charlotte area that have adopted children from Liberia.
Schweigardt adopted three of her children from Liberia and she's in the process of adopting a fourth.
The show was taped in the spring and aired live in Chicago and will air for the first time in North Carolina today, said Schweigardt.
She said she and four others sat on the first row in the audience and fielded Oprah's questions.
Oprah noted the size of the Schweigardt family and the fact that it blends the couple's three biological children, three adopted from Liberia, one adopted from Ethiopia and four adopted in this country and asked, "Sonya, what in the world were you thinking?"
Schweigardt said she explained her parents took in foster children, she has an adopted sister and, since she was a child, she's known that she always felt called to adopt children.
She said the experience was great and she was able to accomplish her goal in going on the show.
"Our whole intention was to glorify God through this," she said.
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