We have all heard the saying, “It takes a village.” The team of Nick and Allison Jacobs could have coined the phrase as they enlist the South-Doyle village to help them with the hustle and bustle of their family of 10. Those that know me, know my favorite analogy is that of the tapestry, God’s tapestry. He looks at the front of the beautiful tapestry of our life and we look at the knots on the back. If we leave the knots alone, the picture will work out as it’s supposed to.

The Jacobs’s tapestry began at Carson Newman College where Nick and Allison’s brother played baseball while Allison played softball. Allison’s protective older brother actually told Allison Nick was the only guy on the baseball team he would allow her to date. Since they were both PE/Wellness majors, Allison and Nick had every class together, so the brother’s blessing turned into prophecy as they actually married a month after graduation in 2004.

The couple began their careers coaching their respective sports at South-Doyle High School as well as teaching classes there or at South-Doyle Middle. When parenting came along, they both quit coaching and Allison quit teaching.

Before she quit coaching, Allison was pregnant with her firstborn son, Fisher. The girls on the team threw her a shower, made him onesies, named him “Peanut,” and when he was born in February her softball girls held him in the dugout.

This power couple did not just begin parenting, they are parenting. They began fostering and now have eight kids total, three biological and five children first fostered and then adopted. Three of their children are entering high school, one is Fisher.

One of the high school sons will be playing baseball for Nick and one of the daughters will be playing volleyball for Allison. Nick now teaches at Bonny Kate Elementary and many of his students now are the children of their former students and players from SDHS and SDMS. Allison says, “Seeing these former players/students and having their kids is such a blessing! We love our community and are thankful for our “village” who love on us and our kids.”

Allison expresses their feelings about coming back to coaching, “We are so excited about this opportunity to get back into coaching. We have some fantastic kids at South-Doyle and it is an honor to be a part of these young athletes’ lives.”

All of us have a story and I want to tell yours! Send them to susan@knoxtntoday.com