My name is Gloria Hemphouse, and I live in Pacific Palisides, California. I am married to Rusty, and we have two children, Heath Owen (6), and two-year-old Parker Micah.

We didn't originally have children because I have problems that prevent me from conceiving; yet friends suggested that I try international adoption. I didn't know what to say or think.

I pored over books about adoption or got on the Internet for information pertaining to adoption; yet it all left me more confused than ever.

I didn't know where to turn for help.

That was when a friend in Georgia (Donna Sue Oliver, herself an adoptive parent of ten) put me in contact with a woman in Tennessee; she said that she was the one to go to for parenting or adoption advice. The woman ran an online adoption community, and she sent people interested in adoption the needed information. The woman was an adoptive parent herself: she and her husband adopted an incredible 40+ children, most with special needs.

I got in touch with Louisiana Sandusky, and she was the one who got the ball rolling for me. I was terrified at first, but she was a great encourager, and when I was having a difficult day, she'd e-mail me or call me, or she would pray with me to give me the strength to get through this ordeal. She was a godsend, and that was when Rusty and I decided to take the necessary steps to adopt.

We filled out mounds of paperwork, and we had home visitations where social workers would interview us and check our backgrounds, to make sure we "were qualified for the adoption process". It was nervewracking; we were both terrified. Yet when the call came that there were two little boys in waiting available, of course, we jumped on the chance. We could not say anything else but "YES!"

The older boy (Heath) was from Africa: he'd lost his parents to the AIDS disease, and he was suspected of being HIV positive himself: he was tiny for his age, sickly, and was often in the hospital with one infection after another. The other child (Parker) was from Haiti; he had tuberculosis and breathing problems, and he too was tiny for his age. Both were in desperate need of a family that could give them the love (or medical care) they needed.

We said yes once we heard their heartbreaking stories. The process was started to bring the two boys to America. Last year, in the fall came Heath; we fell in love with him at once. He was beautiful. He had lovely dark brown skin, pink palms and soles on the bottom of his feet, black eyes that shone with fear, and dimples in his cheeks. He was thin, but he was a lovely child.

As for Parker, he came in January of this year; he is still adjusting. Parker is dark like his older brother, and he is skinny too. He looks like he's missed several meals: his ribs stick out noticeably, and when he runs around in his play, it isn't long before he is coughing (sometimes he brings up blood; it's scary) or gasping for breath. At times we've had to run him to the local ER because he is fighting so hard to get air to his diseased lungs.

The boys are starting to get along with each other, and we are, in turn, getting to know them better. Parker likes brightly colored trucks (fire trucks and ambulances, with their fancy, flashing lights and bright hues, hold his interest the longest) and ice cream (chocolate is his favorite), and Heath loves monster trucks, race cars, and baseball.

Rusty and I are loving every minute of being the boys' parents, and we couldn't ask for better children. Yes, God has blessed us with these two beautiful children, and if it were not for a caring, compassionate woman named Louisiana Sandusky in Tennessee our lives would have been far different: we would have been childless, barren of joy, and uncertain about what the future held.

Adoption has changed our world, and who knows? Maybe one days the boys will have another brother--or perhaps a sister--to love. Time will only tell! :)

~Written by Gloria Hemphouse (Pacific Palisides, California, mother to two boys, ages six and two years).