Party of 7: Pledger family ‘does it all’

Maryann Pledger likes to joke that she has a tendency to “collect children.”

The Mountain Brook resident and wife to Mountain Brook Junior High teacher and coach John Pledger, might actually be on to something. As biological parents to three, adoptive parents to two and former foster parents, the Pledgers’ home houses five children — all under the age of 10. And then of course, there are the family’s two dogs.

“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” said Maryann Pledger, as she and John Pledger hurried around their home putting hair in buns and cleats on shoes as their daughters, six-year-old Anna Claire and five-year-old Adelaide, put on their cheerleading outfits. Their sons, Alec and Ayden, both 8, were both headed to baseball practice. Little Anderson, age 4, followed his brothers around.

Officially, the Pledgers became a family of seven when the adoption of Alec and Anderson, both from China, was complete. In adopting her two boys, Maryann Pledger said the decision was God’s will.

While teaching English to Chinese students at Samford University, she said she was finally able to understand what God had been wanting her to do for years.

“I felt like God had been working on my heart for a long time to adopt,” Maryann Pledger said. “And at the same time, He was working on John’s heart.”

Because the Chinese students she was working with at the time had little or no family in the United States, some of them eventually started spending holidays and weekends with the Pledger family. At the same time, Maryann Pledger was reading “A Heart for Freedom” by Chai Ling, one of the protesters at Tiananmen Square, and learning about the struggles of the Chinese people.

“One day when I came home from work, it was like God hit me over the head with the message. We both knew we were supposed to adopt,” she said.

The Pledgers’ decision to adopt came in 2013, and in February of that year, the couple began working with Lifeline Children’s Services in the adoption process. Though they are not related, Alec and Anderson were both believed to share the same hearing disability. As teachers by trade — Maryann Pledger now teaches ESL classes at Shades Valley and Irondale Middle School — the couple said they felt they were aptly prepared to care for children who might need a little extra help.

When the adoption was complete in 2014, doctor visits back in the United States revealed Alec was hearing impaired. Anderson, on the other hand, simply had significant wax buildup in his ears.

“He could hear just fine,” said Anna Claire with a laugh. “He just wasn’t listening.”

In order to help Alec adjust, he was sent to multiple specialists for evaluation. Within his first six months in the U.S., he was fitted with a cochlear implant. The implant allows him to hear everything, Maryann Pledger said. The issue, however, is that because Alec is now hearing in English for the first time and might never have heard anything, he has to learn what he is hearing.

The family is learning to use Total Communication — Signed Exact English, not American Sign Language — while speaking at the same time, to communicate with Alec and in his presence, she said.

At school, Alec is in the same classroom as Anna Claire, where they are both learning SEE.

“That way, I can learn what he learns,” she said, “and then come share it with everyone else.”

Through it all, Maryann Pledger said the family couldn’t have done it without the village around them. From helping them raise the nearly $42,000 needed to pay for associated adoption costs, through events such as a MBJH football player and cheerleader car wash, to homemade-meal deliveries and clothing donations, the Pledgers said they know they are blessed to call Mountain Brook home.

“We realized that God had asked us to do,” Maryann Pledger said. “And he’d ask others to give.”

Today, the family has adjusted well to living together. Though they might look a little different, the Pledger kids are siblings through and through. The little ones walk around the house together holding hands, Maryann Pledger said. The older ones can’t wait to get outside and throw the football around.

“They’d love for us to adopt more,” she said. “I remind them to relax and be patient.”

On the last day of school, the Pledgers had plans to surprise their kids with a trip to Disney World. Baseball, cheerleading, basketball, football and gymnastics would be waiting back home.

“We do it all,” John Pledger said. “We want all five of them to be able to experience everything.”