McKenzie loves her family–two great parents, an older brother, and two adopted younger siblings. There were also foster children who spent some amount of time in their family. “Families are tough sometimes,” she says. “When we had foster kids, it was even tougher because they would act out–having come from really awful situations–and that was hard for me to deal with. I had to learn about unconditional love at a young age.”
And she did. She learned about love so well that she expects to foster and adopt at some point, too.
McKenzie’s parents had two sweet children. They knew there were more–but more weren’t coming. The years that McKenzie and her older brother had together drew the two of them very close. That closeness has never left. They have a special bond.
Then in 2003, the parents brought Caleb home from China, and he was welcomed by all. The boys drew especially close together, and in 2005, Ellie joined the family. The family dynamics are interesting, but not surprising. Each of the siblings has a special closeness with the others for various reasons. They boys are close to each other, the girls are inseparable, the older kids have a bond, and the younger ones are attached. There’s just a whole bunch of love in McKenzie’s family.
Although adoption is obvious when looking at the family, according to McKenzie, adoption is a non-issue. They’re all just family. So much of that attitude has to do with the parents. They openly talk about adoption, but there is no distinction between biological and adopted kids. Love is unconditional and universal. McKenzie said it well. “Adoption just makes sense to our family.”
