Loving L.I. family adopts 5 foster children

THE MORE the merrier.

That’s the mantra that a Long Island family will use to ring in 2018 surrounded by friends and lots of family — including the five foster children they officially adopted last month.

Aleisha and Anthony Bryant will celebrate their first New Year’s Eve since expanding their family’s numbers into the double digits, counting their own two kids from previous relationships and a former foster daughter.

The Bryants made the decision in 2015 to open their hearts and their Baldwin home to foster children in need when an agent with You Gotta Believe — an adoption agency that specifically places older foster kids and sibling groups — recommended a family of five siblings, ranging in age from 6 to 18.

“My initial reaction was, ‘No way. There’s no way we’ll be able to take in five children,’ ” 35-yearold Aleisha Bryant told the Daily News. The Con Ed customer service worker and her husband, Anthony, 52, an armored guard for Dunbar, were unsure if they could make it work, but their determination overcame any doubt.

The two were friends for a number of years before they got married, and always knew that a big family was in their future.

“We didn’t know how we were going to do this, but we knew we had enough love to make it work,” Aleisha said.

It was tough for Mekhi, Aleisha’s 16-year-old son from a prior relationship, and there were growing pains.

There was a lot on the family’s plate between work, homework, meals, snacks, laying out clothes and just being parents, but the Bryants embraced the challenge. “Initially it was difficult, as you imagine,” Aleisha said. “It was a lot of turmoil and difficulty trying to blend in the beginning. Now they all are doing so much better and welcomed us as mom and dad.”

They adopted the quintet of kids on National Adoption Day in November, at the Long Island Children’s Museum.

“We still have no regrets; it’s been a roller-coaster ride, but it’s been worth it,” Aleisha added.

Elizabeth, 18, the oldest of the five, is attending John Jay College of Criminal Justice and focusing on her future after spending years looking out for her four younger brothers. Their father was deported, and their mother was no longer able to provide for them. “Having them in my life is probably the best thing I could ask for,” she said of the Bryants.

“I thought most of the time foster parents were in it for the cash,” she added. “This family wasn’t like that. Even though it was a strain, they made everything work.”

A friend of the family was so awed by the Bryants’ superhuman feat of raising the kids that the pal entered them in the T.J.Maxx, Marshalls and HomeGoods “Gift My Gathering” program. A team from the retailers took over the Bryants’ home Saturday, made over the kids’ rooms, the living room and other parts of the house — and prepared a party for the family.

“We were speechless, just absolutely surprised by everything they did,” Aleisha Bryant said.

A smorgasbord of Southern food and a DJ awaited the group, which included a few more family members who were flown in for the fete.

Joining the Bryants were Pat Dudley, the You Gotta Believe staffer who set up the family with Elizabeth and her brothers, along with Ericka, the Bryant’s first foster daughter as well as Anthony’s 25-year-old daughter, Candace, and other relatives. “I didn’t think it was a real thing. I didn’t think it was actually going to happen,” Elizabeth told The News. “It was a really big surprise.”