More Than a Number: Stewart Sets Out to Honor His Siblings
Nine children -- six adopted -- made for an interesting and blessed upbringing
Mike Brohard
Loveland is known for its art scene.
Sculptures line downtown city streets, and the Loveland Sculpture Show draws big crowds annually when a pandemic is not in play. Throughout the calendar, smaller art shows and even craft fares pop up around the city.
Kari Stewart attended one years ago, taking her two small children – Abby and Logan tucked safely in a tandem stroller – with her to the Chilson Senior Center. An elderly lady approached her.
“I was at some art fair there, and she said, ‘oh my goodness, what beautiful twins,’” Kari recalled. “I just kinda smiled and said, ‘thank you.’ I didn’t even want to go there. I just smiled and kept walking.”
Abby is two years older than Logan, but he was also a bigger child. Abby is also Korean, Logan is Black, and Kari didn’t want the conversation to turn into an explanation.
Welcome to the Stewart clan, where Kari and her husband, Jeff, had three natural-born children before they started adopting others from around the globe. Beth, from China, was first. After Abby and Logan followed Luke and Jill, both Black, and Zinnia, who has Downs Syndrome.
“We did not intend on adopting six children. I can honestly said it’s because God put it on our heart each and every time,” Kari said. “We first adopted a daughter from China, then we adopted Abby from Korea. God just put on our heart to specifically adopt an African American boy. We didn’t know if he’d be older or a baby, we just said, ‘OK, let’s do it.’ So we had the home study done, and that’s how it starts.”
Where it has led them is a big, happy family who can share experiences. Their family may look different, but Logan, a senior safety on the Colorado State football team, just sees family.
“When I came, it was all with open arms. It wasn’t, you’re not our son, it was unconditional love from the day I stepped foot in the house,” Logan said. “It’s been like that ever since. I think we do a really good job of welcoming everybody into our family, and then some.
“It was always exciting. You always had somebody to play with, for sure, and I remember Christmas being probably one of the best time of my life. Having a big family of nine and be able to run around the house and play with other siblings, it was awesome.”
Jeremiah (39), Sarah (34) and Hannah (33) are the Stewart’s biological children. To Logan, they have all been strong examples for him, calling them all his second set of parents. Beth was the adventurous one, leading them around the neighborhood on quests; Abby and he are close, having attended Mountain View High School at the same time, and he considers her to be the most caring person he knows; He and Luke shared a room growing up, and despite being younger, taught Logan the importance of independence; Jill and Zinnia he calls “sparkplugs”, both bringing an endless supply of energy to the group.
As one can imagine, Christmas mornings with nine children could prove to be chaotic and magical blend of pure joy.
“It was always exciting. You always had somebody to play with, for sure, and I remember Christmas being probably one of the best times of my life,” Logan said. “Having a big family of nine and be able to run around the house and play with other siblings, it was awesome.”
Logan walked on to the football team after two years of junior college football. A state champion in the long jump, he had offers for track, but he also didn’t have the grades. It wasn’t something he took seriously enough as a prep, but his goals, he was dead-set on achieving them.
It wasn’t an easy lesson to learn, but he regrouped. He studied and earned good marks before coming home to take the next step in becoming a Division I football player.
With his work ethic and attention to detail, he quickly earned the attention of the former coaching staff, who put him on scholarship before ever playing a game. The end result – he started all 12 games in 2019, finishing third on the team with 76 tackles and tied for the team lead with a pair of interceptions, both at Fresno State. His first set up the Rams’ go-ahead score; his second sealed the deal.
He did it all wearing No. 37 on his jersey, but in the offseason, he wanted his jersey to represent something far more, so he asked for No. 9.
“What No. 9 represents is the number of siblings in my family. We have a lot of people from different parts of the world and the country,” Logan said. “First it started with my parents. They have really big hearts, and they decided they wanted to adopt children. Over the span of 20 years, my parents adopted six of us.
“Just going into my senior year, I really wanted to represent something bigger to me. Right now, in the current state of our country, why not be the example of we can do this together and live together. I feel like me wearing No. 9 is the perfect representation of that.”
Just going into my senior year, I really wanted to represent something bigger to me. Right now, in the current state of our country, why not be the example of we can do this together and live together. I feel like me wearing No. 9 is the perfect representation of that.Logan Stewart, Defensive Back
The family knew of his decision, of course, but it didn’t hit them until they watched him on television in the season opener. At first, it seemed odd to Abby. She said she knows her brother just by the way he physically carries himself, and seeing that confidence wearing a No. 9 jersey took her by surprise.
Mostly in an emotional way.
“It just really shows his heart. It’s important, and it’s special to me, because so much of our lives has been really been to look up to him, even though he’s two years younger than me,” said Abby, who calls herself Logan’s biggest fan, a title no one disputes. “He’s my No. 1 inspiration, so for him to represent us as a family, I believe it shows his heart, who he’s playing for truly and what is the most important to him in his life.
“I will always support him.”
The mix of the Stewart’s has always been a strength, plus the starting point for cultural conversations. While they saw normal, they knew others saw differences.
“I’s definitely opened our eyes to racism in ways we’d never been exposed to,” Kari said. “We didn’t experience it much with Abby and Beth, but with Logan, it was different. I don’t even think Logan knows this story, but when we went to DIA to pick him up, he was a month old and he was being brought to us at DIA. That’s when you could go to the gate. A friend who lived in Florida brought Logan home to us in Colorado. She got off the plane and she handed him to us, and we had all these great pictures.
“When we’re leaving, a Black man stopped us. He said, ‘tell me how you have this baby in your arms?’ So we told him we were adopting him and he just came from Florida to be part of our family. He just really affirmed us as parents, we said thank you, and then he said, can I pray for you? And he prayed for us right there in the airport, and he prayed for Logan. It was a really neat affirmation of the yes, of what we’d gotten into.”
Growing up, they have all had a chance to share what they feel, what they know and what they’ve tried to learn about themselves and where they are from. Most importantly, they’ve listened to each other to find similarities in their differences.
Those conversations carried even more weight this summer, especially for Kari, who wasn’t quite sure how to address her Black children.
“We’ve had conversations about race, and Logan has told me many times, ‘Mom, I wish you could just walk in my shoes one day,’” Kari said. “I didn’t quite understand that until what happened with George Floyd. I remember I shared with him I feel pretty inadequate as a parent to journey with you through this. He immediately said, ‘Mom, I don’t know of anybody better to walk with me through this.’
“He affirmed me and my role as his mom. He said you have relationships with people where you can make an impact in racist thoughts and ideas. He encouraged me to learn more. I’ve learned more from Logan about Black history, and he’s always ready to talk, but he shoots straight. He doesn’t shoot soft necessarily sometimes. He’s direct about what he knows. He doesn’t do it aggressively, he’s just passionate about it. He says, ‘Mom, it’s all about education.’
To Logan, his family is a lesson to all.
For him, it has been a beacon of empathy and understanding, of sharing and caring. All they see is family.
“We exemplify that in our household,” he said. “We show it doesn’t matter where you’re from. We as people, as humans, can get a long and make this thing work.
“We really didn’t pay attention to any of that. We were just so happy to be loved.”
He learned that most of all from Kari. He learned how to work from Jeff. So this season, he wanted to find a way to show all of his siblings what they have meant to him. Now, Kari jokes he didn’t take the financial impact into account, as they all have No. 37 gear, but for that, they forgive him.
“My first response was, do you know how much I’ve invested in 37?” Kari said. “How many sweatshirts, jerseys? But now we have 9.”
He also understands what Abby went through the first time she saw him in his new jersey. His first time wearing it at practice, he felt different, too.
“It felt good though. I feel a different energy, and I'm excited to play in that jersey this year,” Logan said. “I feel like I’m going to be charged up even more than I am going into game. My whole energy is going to be through the roof.”
As the Stewarts have lived and learned, there is strength in numbers. The number 9 in particular.