Two small boys from Korea bring a family much joy and happiness.

Benjamin Hong and Braxton Chae. Our two newest family members, yet as important as my husband, Max, and our other children Philomena Rose (twelve-and-a-half) and Grange Michael, who is six.

We adopted Benjamin and Braxton about a year ago, from Korea. They  have brought us nothing but sheer joy! Their arrival was, and is, a blessing in disquise; it's helped take away some of the hardships we've faced as a family.

Our only daughter (Philomena Rose) has juvenile rheumatoid arthritis; she's been in and out of hospitals most of her life.  She's had many surgeries to replace damaged, diseased bones, joints. She can walk, with assistance (crutches).  Philomena's often in a great deal of pain; despite her struggles, she never complains, not one bit. She possesses a sense of courage that we truly find amazing!

My name is Gabbie (Gabriella), and I have been married for fifteen years now. We always knew we wanted a family, a family of four children, two boys, two girls. Well, we have the four children we wanted; we just didn't know we'd wind up with three boys! LOL Still, we wouldn't trade none of our children for anything in the world; we love them too much!

Benjamin and Braxton are blood cousins; they were born, then abandoned shortly after their births by their mothers. They ended up in an orphanage, where they were then put up for adoption. Well, we wanted to adopt a child from overseas, so we applied to adopt a child from anywhere. When we were accepted, we then found out about Hong and Chae, the two boy cousins, who were then two and four, from Korea.

We wanted them, especially after we saw their pictures. They were adorable, with fat cheeks and round little bellies. They looked like twin Buddhas. We fell immediately in love with them upon seeing their pictures; we knew they were to be the ones for us.

We got together the necessary papers; about six weeks later, we found out that we were to get them as our own. We were so elated we cried. We were to go from two children to four children. Our family was to grow by two. There would be six members now instead of the usual four.

The day Benjamin and Braxton (as we now called them) arrived was a grand adventure, indeed. Yes. We were all bursting with excitement, the house was sparkling clean from top to bottom, the boy's room was ready and waiting for the new arrivals, and Philli was being released from the hospital after having another one of her flares; she would be joining us at the airport to pick up our two newest family members.

The day was sunny, coolish, a perfect combination for our soaring moods. The closer we got to the airport, the more excited we were. Grange was so excited he couldn't help bouncing in his seat and Philli wouldn't cease talking; she kept jabbering until hubby dear told her to hush.

The first time we laid eyes upon Benjamin and Braxton was truly a miracle to behold. The boys were beautiful with their straight, soft, black silky hair, slanted eyes, and round moon faces; they had grown so much since we'd gotten the pictures. They were now three and five.

At the sight of them, when Benjamin was placed into my arms, I cried buckets of tears; yet I wasn't crying because I was sad: I was crying because I was so happy. Max had tears glistening upon his cheeks as well.

It was a joyful moment, one that we would never forget for the rest of our lives.

Now it's been a little over six months since that unforgettable day. The two boys have adjusted beautifully. They argue with each other (and with their sister and brother) like any typical toddlers, and they get on our nerves once in a while with their seemingly inexhaustable energy levels.

They have learned English at an incredibly fast rate.  They love American food: pizza, Burger King (what they call hamburgers; doesn't matter where they come from, all hamburgers are Burger Kings!), fries, Cokes.  And they love "spagetsi."

They love anything "Ninja Turtles" or "Transformers". Personally, I don't care for them, but they love that stuff, so we try to put up with that, anything to try to make them happy, anything to try to keep peace in our household. :)

Yes, we do have a beautiful family; even though Benjamin and Braxton don't look like the rest of us, they're still our children, now and forever, and nothing can ever separate us from them! They are our "Forever Children", now--and always!