My husband and I have four sons. We also have a total of 19 grandchildren, and we love each and every one of them as though they were all blood relation, even though nine of them are adopted.
How it started
Some 20 years ago, one of our sons and his wife, who already had two children, decided to adopt two little girls from Honduras who had been abandoned by their mother.
My daughter-in-law, who is a doctor, was unable to make the trip to pick the girls up, so I got the privilege of going. When we arrived at the orphanage in Honduras, we spotted two adorable little girls – Ana and Sonia – peeking around the corner of the door. A moment later they came running toward us.
A couple of years later, that same son and daughter-in-law adopted three more children – Amy, Edward and Robert. The siblings came home to live with their new family and fit right in. Another two years passed, and then Samuel, a young boy from Vietnam, joined the family. Six months later, I became grandma to Benjamin, a young lad from Laos.
When my husband and I would visit, it seemed one of them always had a loose tooth, and my husband would give the child a quarter to let him pull it. Soon began the tradition of the grandchildren mailing us their lost teeth. We saved all those teeth, and when each child got married, their baby teeth were given to them as part of their wedding gift. None of them could believe that we’d saved their teeth for all those years.
The children are all grown and doing well. One is a registered nurse, one works at a fast-food place, two are in the military, one is currently teaching English for the second year in Japan, another lives in New York, and two are doctors at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota.
My son and his wife gave all of their children music lessons, and all of the children are musically talented. While growing up, they lived on a farm, and the children were all taught to cook and do farm chores. And each child was treated the same.
Family is still growing
Two years ago, my youngest son and his wife, who were unable to have children, flew to China to adopt a 2-year-old little girl. Olivia came home and thrived.
And I’m thrilled to say that this same son and his wife are currently in China again, this time to bring home a 2-year-old boy to join the family.
As each new grandchild joined and became a part of the family, they moved right into our hearts. And as the years have gone by, it has become hard to remember when they weren’t a part of the family.
Adoption might not be for everyone, but for our family, it has worked out perfectly.
Maxine
Exira, Iowa