Sometimes I call them “The Fab Five” because it is absolutely fabulous. These five made all my dreams come true.
When I was a single woman, I had a shirt that read, “My head is full of children.” I think my friends thought I was a little crazy. For as long as I can remember, I have wanted to be a mom and have 4 children. When I found out I was infertile at 19, it was devastating. Yet I found lots of ways to have kids in my life, and I worked through it.
At age 37, my new hubby and I successfully adopted our first. Our second came in less than two years, and for a long while, we were done. I had a broken foot, these two were perfect, and our family seemed complete. My husband, one of two, could not envision a larger family. Our girls were friends with lots of kids in large families and so longed to be part of one. “Not happening,” we said.
Nearly three years ago, we had a life-changing encounter with CPS and a 2-year-old spit-fire named Brandi, placed a few times in a friend’s home. It was as if she took her whimsical crooked smile and just cracked our hearts wide open. While it was too late for us to have any impact on her future, we decided to become licensed for foster care.
We had a few short-term placements. Our social worker talked to us about adoption. We thought, “Yes, a girl, 6 to 8 years old.” We thought we’d keep the “girl theme” running. We answered several TARE bulletins for girls in that age range while we kept fostering.
18 months ago, a sibling group of three came to us. They were 10 months, 20 months, and 34 months– and adorable. Having two boys in our mostly female household proved fun. Six months later, their birth mother unexpectedly and voluntarily terminated her parental rights. They stayed.
Suddenly and quite unexpectedly, my dream of a large family came true. We adopted the trio on November 19, 2010, National Adoption Day. Now we are a family of seven and our “two girls” have become the leaders of the Fab Five. It is an amazing thing to see what can happen when you open your heart!
