Today Cathy and I added two children to our family making the running total: 3 bio kids and 3 adopted. Raising our first three was sooo much fun we thought we'd do it again with other people's offspring.
Our eldest son recently finished up his Navy service and the other two are currently in the Army (the son on the left will be starting his third Afghanistan rotation shortly and my daughter just finished AIT). We've had our "chocolate covered" daughter since birth and adopted her approximately five years ago. The two half-sisters arrived roughly 1-2 years ago and we decided early on in the placement that we wanted to adopt them. My wife and I have been foster parents for almost 15 years taking care of mostly special needs children. Of the 95+ foster children we've had, these are the only three we couldn't live without. Two of the three have "special needs" but that just make them more special to us.
If you've ever had a thought about becoming a foster parent I would encourage you to look into it. If you just want to take care of kids on the weekend, you can do that. If you just want babies, you can do that. If you just want teenage boys, you can do that too. Call your local DCF and ask how you can help out. We started foster care with the intention of never adopting kids but things change. There are also options to foster to adopt in case you find out you need to keep.
If you'd like more information on fostering or adopting, I would encourage you to visit AdoptUSKids or email me personally.
People who say you can't love adopted children as much as biological children haven't found the right kid yet. Trust me, they are out there and they will find you.
