“I quickly realized I wasn’t in a drug-induced haze. We then had 7 children inside a 3-bedroom house with 2.5 bathrooms. Showering required a schedule, and toilet usage was always something to fight for. We were cramped, we were on top of each other, BUT we were having a freaking blast! Ya’ll, it gets better. Two weeks later, my husband tells me he wants to quit his job. Sure, Nathan. Let’s adopt of bunch of kids, and use my stay-at-home mom salary to feed them. Genius plan.”
‘I want to adopt them all.’ I’d just come home from a breast cancer scare, and thought it was the Valium talking.’: Couple adopts teen daughter, wife ‘floored’ when husband declares he wants to adopt her younger brothers too, now living happily with 7 kids
‘I have 2 bio kids, 2 adopted, 3 special needs foster children. I wanted nothing to do with the ‘white picket’ American Dream.’: Special needs mom cherishes the ‘beautiful chaos’ of ‘meeting the needs of others’
“‘Your baby has a large mass. Prepare for the worst.’ I was learning how to be married, live in a city where we knew no one, being first-time teachers and parents to a baby who may or may not be okay. The older, wiser folks warned us to slow down. And yet none of this chaos ever silenced the call we felt to pursue adoption and fostering. Our life is absolutely crazy. But I look through my dark-circled eyes at this beautiful mess and know I’m right where I need to be.”
‘This was an 18-month-old Caucasian little girl. ‘Do you want to move forward?’ I looked at him as he read it. The biggest smile came over his face as he wrote, ‘YES!’
“I told him this wasn’t a typical ‘let’s do it’ situation. They had just received information about the bio mom of the little girl, and she was pregnant. My jaw dropped. We had never considered two kids, let alone a newborn. I can’t say I was fully on board. The next month – I was pregnant.”
‘They are ours forever,’ I told my husband as tears ran down my face. ‘We have twins. They’ve been moved due to limited beds.’ I read that text a million times. Our day had finally come.’
“I told my student I had to talk to his dad about his behavior. He turned around. ‘He is not my dad, he is my case worker. I don’t have a mom or dad. I am in foster care.’ I was shocked and speechless. I wanted to wrap my arms around him. During dinner, I had a conversation with my husband.”
‘I choked back tears when Travon told me, ‘You’re my big sister now!’ My earth shattered. These 3 brothers were home. It was all in front of me.’
“We got a call for three boys – ages 1, 3, and 4. They were brothers, and had been separated. ‘I’m glad you are not mean and never get mad. I was scared of foster parents, but not you. You never scream or cuss,’ the oldest said as my mom tucked him in. In their eyes, they were already a part of our family.”
‘I still remember the text I sent my husband. ‘Do you want TWO babies?’ Boy, girl, black, biracial, a year apart, biologically shared one parent. My voice trailed off.’
“When I saw my son-to-be’s date of birth, I choked back tears. To understand why, I need to rewind. My husband was feeling run down. It was sudden and pronounced fatigue, odd for an avid cyclist. At 32 years old, he was fit. We both shrugged it off. I promised our kids we wouldn’t be gone long.”
‘I immediately began to hyperventilate. ‘Mrs. Ramsammy, we’ve got two brothers in need of a home tonight. They are 4 months and 15 months. Are you able to take them?’
“She told me their names, and I gasped and yelled, ‘You’re kidding right??’ Probably not a response she was expecting. Like what are the chances of that??”
‘After 15 years, the phone rang on a Friday morning. It was the case worker saying she had not one, but TWO babies. 6-week-old twins. ‘Would you take two babies instead of one?’
“An even bigger surprise was in store, a few years after we were put up for adoption, our birth parents, who were not together at the time of our birth, had reunited and later married.”
‘It’s funny how a 2-sentence email can change your life forever. ‘I need to speak with you about a unique situation. Please give me a call when you get this message.’
“My husband and I had been married for over 10 years and due to a cancer diagnosis and treatment shortly after college, we were unable to conceive children of our own.”
‘My roommate and I were looking at each other wondering if we were thinking the same thing. Part of me wanted to blab it all in that moment and reveal this huge secret.’
“He was named ‘Baby Boy’ since his mother had left just hours after birth and not provided him with a name. I could feel the fear inside me and the chills in my body. Something was different about this one. Could they have the same mother?”
