DOYLE — After adopting six children, ages 6 years to 15, Sissy Keck is grateful for the opportunity to love and help more children grow up.

“It’s wonderful to see your kids reach their goals in life,” Keck said. “God has blessed us so much.”

She feels even more blessed after her husband, Wilroy, had his life spared from a freak accident a few weeks ago which left him with third degree burns on 23 percent of his body.

Wilroy had been turning a car and at the precise moment he punctured the diesel tank, one of the tires exploded from flames and sprayed burning diesel on him.

“All I could do was put my arms in front of my face and pray,” he said. “I have six children who need me. I can’t die.”

The fire started to die down, enough for him to run to a pond and dive in.

His burns covered both arms, down one leg and over his face.

Sissy stayed with him in the hospital for two weeks before he was finally allowed to return home to his children.

“The kids have just loved him and cared for him since he’s returned home,” Sissy said.

The children hug their adopted father, kiss him on the neck and rub his feet when it itches. He is relegated to bed 24 hours a day until his burns have healed enough.

Their mother, who has blood clots, cannot do much labor, either.

“The children have been so sensitive to our needs,” she said. “They clean house, plant flowers, milk the cows and work around the house. They do everything I can’t do.”

Five of the adopted children are siblings. The Kecks wanted to keep the family together and so adopted them.

The children repay their parents with plenty of love, especially to their mother.

“We’re lucky to have them,” Ronnie, 14, said. “She loves us much. Her cooking is the best.”

Jessika, 15, said the best part about her mother is the fact that she is always there.

“If I need to do something or go somewhere, she will always be there for me,” Jessika said.

Their mother, who has two older children, Whitney, 25, and Bradly, 23, initially thought adoption might be a difficult process.

“But the Lord gave us extra love in our hearts,” she said. “I love them just as much as I do Whitney and Bradly.”

For Sissy, deciding to adopt was a process. After her two children were grown and moved on, she would cry because no children were around.

“I was lonely when they left,” she said.

Finally, in an effort to ease the pain, she and her husband decided to become foster parents.

“I felt I had some purpose left to fulfill,” she said. “I wasn’t even supposed to be here on Earth because of blood clots, but the Lord has been good to me.”

She said that when the children were first brought into her home as foster children, they were insecure and didn’t have much of a desire to do schoolwork.

“They didn’t know whether it would work this time or not,” she said. “When they found out how much we loved and accepted them, they repaid us in kind.”

Having children in her home brought the joy of children back into her life, she said, but it was not necessarily the easiest thing, either.

“They weren’t mine and so I couldn’t hold on to them when it was time for them to leave,” she said. “So we decided we wanted to adopt.”

The first one to join their family was Jessika. After that came the five siblings, Brandon, 15, Ronnie, 14, Star, 11, Randy, 9 and Sara, 6.

Once the children moved in, the Kecks went about showing them plenty of love and teaching them to work hard, they said.

“If one says I’m bored around here, that’s the wrong thing to say,” Sissy said. “We’ll tell them to pick up trash. There’s always something to do.”

Wilroy said that he teaches his children that if they want money, they have to work for it.

“Brandon told me if I purchased a dirt bike for him, he would work to pay me back for it,” he said. “He hasn’t let me down.”

The boys are taught to weld, build fences and work cattle, as well as other skills.

The girls are taught homemaking skills.

“I teach them how to sew, cook and do laundry,” their mother said. “I think you have to give children an education in common sense. We’re like a mini vo-tech.”

Sissy said that the family has lots of fun together.

“We do everything together, including watching movies, so it has to be appropriate for everyone,” she said.

The Kecks enjoy living life together, but one thing the parents won’t allow is arguing.

“If anyone starts to argue, we put them to work,” Wilroy said.

All in all, the Kecks said they enjoy a house full of children.

“You learn so much in life when you are young,” the father said. “Almost all of our choices in life are based off of what we learned when we were little. We have lots to be thankful for. So many people take everything in life for granted.”

Wilroy is slowly healing and will eventually return to work. His family, in the meantime, will continue to care for him.