The more I have dove into the "adoption world" and I have made new friends through social media, I have realized that not everyone knows about my family and how adoption has touched my family long before I ever became pregnant with Kinley. I guess I can start out my introducing my family, blog style and give everyone a little family history about the Gladdens.
My parents, Charles and Nancy Gladden were married in 1983.
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| I couldn't find any serious pictures of them anywhere- so this is all I have to show of my crazy parents |
They had my oldest sister Jaala, a year later. She is now 29 and married to her wonderful husband Harrison.
Then, my brother charlie was born, and he is 28. He is married to his sweet wife Shawna.
They then had my older brother, Curtis, who is 26. He is married to his wife, Holly. Together they have a cutie of a daughter, Noellee, who is 2.
My sister, Charnae, is next, she is 24. She is married to her husband, Dayle, and they have a precious daughter named Camille, who is 9 months old.
Then there is me, 20 years old and now married to Grant.
My little brother, Brok, who is 14.
And then my brother, Westley, who is 10.
3 years ago, we welcomed 3 more kids into our home via adoption.
Harve (6)
Christian (8)
and Audrey (4)
You may be asking why we adopted 3 more kids when my mom already had 7! My parent's adoption story is a bit unique. Harve, Christian, and Audrey were my cousins before adoption. Their birth parents were into drugs and the kids were not in a safe environment to be parented by them. They all have 2 other older siblings who were adopted by my other uncle. The kids were taken from their birth parents by the state, and my uncle (who adopted the other siblings) had custody of all the kids except Audrey. He took care of them while my parents got certified to foster/adopt. During the certification period, we would drive down to New Mexico and visit Harve and Christian and spend time with them for a few days. We were so excited to have new brothers. one of the trips down, my parents went to a meeting and they announced that there was a little girl also (Audrey). We didn't know about her at all. My dad was a little overwhelmed because they were not prepared to adopt a baby also. My mom cheerfully told the case workers that she would be happy to welcome a beautiful baby girl into our home. I am so glad she did!
One of the times we went to visit the kids, we got to visit Audrey. She was in a foster home at the time so the foster mother let Audrey stay at our hotel for the weekend we were there. We were so overjoyed to get to know her.
After months of paper work, and lots of interviews and all of that, my parents were finally able to become certified foster parents and we were able to welcome the "triplets" into our home. We call them the triplets because it was kind of like having triplets, even thought they all different ages.
I always forget that adoption is part of my family, because the triplets fit right in. They are like all of us, and "outsiders" would't even know the difference, other than they have different physical features than us. My parents' adoption story is unique because of all the circumstances that are different than Kinley's adoption and other infant, domestic and private adoptions.
We are so glad Harve, Christian, and Audrey are part of our family. I'm so blessed to have such a large family and I love all 9 of my siblings! They came to their forever home on May 1st, 2010.
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| This is my grandpa, Harve, and my dad at the final adoption hearing- look at my dad's face:) |
And they were sealed to our parents on my parents' wedding anniversary in the Jordan River Temple (which is where they were married also) on July 5th 2011.
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| All of my siblings, except my oldest brother, Charlie, were able to be there |
ADOPTION IS BEAUTIFUL!
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