CityView Magazine

CityViewNC.com | 19 E cclesiastes 4:9-12 says life is better with community, noting that two are better than one and if one falls down, one can help the other up. ere is also an oen-repeated African proverb that teaches it takes a village to raise a child. e McKenzie family of Baywood is living testament that there is validity in both phrases. Bryan and Julia McKenzie have a family that is both supportive of each other and large in number, not to mention the children hail from multiple countries. ey have 12 children: four biologically and eight by adoption. Among the eight adoptees, four still live at home and are enrolled at Cape Fear High School, where they are all involved in athletics. "We're our own village," says Bryan McKenzie. Son Brice McKenzie and daughter Hannah McKenzie are both from Ethiopia. Daughter Abby Grace McKenzie is ai, while son John Bryan McKenzie is from Guatemala. e question many might ask is why the McKenzies have felt the need to gather such a large group of children from so many ethnic backgrounds. Julia McKenzie has a simple answer. "Faith in God is what created our family," she says, adding that she and Bryan are nondenominational Christians. "God really brought every child we adopted," Julia says. "It was just a natural progression. We never planned to have 12 children. at wasn't a goal we set." Each child, through a different process, found his or her way into the McKenzie clan, Julia says. John Bryan came to the family at the age of 9 months. Abby Grace was born at Cape Fear Valley Medical Center. Brice and Hannah joined the family at the ages of 6 and 4, respectively. Team players Julia says from the first time the children ran into the family's backyard, they just grabbed onto each other. "ey were a little pack," she says. "ey've been a team since the day they met. "ey're not just brothers and sisters. ey're best friends." 910.868.5131 | 3200 Cliffdale Road, Fayetteville, NC 28303 | www.fayacademy.org Empower your journey. Elevate your future. FAYETTEVILLE ACADEMY Fayetteville Academy admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin, gender identity, or sexual orientation to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national and ethnic origin, gender identity, or sexual orientation in administration of its educational policies, admissions, financial aid, and athletic and other school-administered programs. Visit www.fayacademy.org for more information. • Ranked by Niche.com as the #1 Best Private K-12 School in the Fayetteville area • Three state-of-the-art STEAM SmartLabs ® • 71% of students who take the AP exams score a 3 or higher. • More than $500,000 in need-based financial aid awarded annually to qualified applicants. • The 26 members of the Class of 2022 were offered more than $3 million in college scholarships and grants.

• Cover