My name is Teresa Coles. I live in Portland, Oregon, with my husband, Jimmy, and our seven children: Regina Marie (14), Timothy Xander (12), Gigi Michelle (11), Ethan Scott (9), James (Jimmy) Holt (7), Heidi Micole (5), and Jasmin Faith (2 1/2). All but three of our children are adopted.
We adopted Gigi, Jasmin, and Heidi from China while Ethan comes from Africa (Kenya). It doesn't bother us one iota that four of our children do not "look like us". That should not matter in the least. They are our children, first and foremost, just like the three who had been born to us.
We have been incredibly blessed in adding Heidi, Jasmin, Ethan, and Gigi to our family. We cannot imagine our tribe without any of them; they have made our lives that much more meaningful and richer.
We may be adding to our family in the future; we are looking into adopting a child from here in America. There are so many hurting and needy children in our own backyard. We would like to adopt another little boy; that way we would have an even number of each. Right now we have five females (the four girls and myself) to three males (Jimmy and the boys).
It would also be a lot cheaper, too. We had to go to China to get our girls and to Kenya to get Ethan; and while it was exciting and emotional, the travel and expenses nearly wiped out our finances. We've had to start over to try to build our lives back up. Now we're finally back on our feet again, but we're still paying court costs and such.
It doesn't really help that Ethan, Gigi, and Heidi all have special needs. Ethan was born without arms or legs; as for Gigi, she had a cleft palate (sine repaired when she came three years ago). Meanwhile, Heidi has spina bifida and has had numerous surgeries; her latest one was last year. She's still recovering but is doing much, much better (thank the Lord!).
Having children who are disabled has opened our eyes to a world we could have never imagined; but we saw something in their faces when we first saw their photos, and we knew we had to act, so we did.
Most of the time people have been very positive towards us, but there are those who try to hurt our feelings or the feelings of our children; this is when "Mama Bear" comes into play and lets these people know that we will not stand for that at all. As long as it is our kids, I (and Jimmy) will fight for all their rights and we will work like heck to make sure that their dearest dreams come true .
Well, I hate to run, but Ethan is screaming up a storm and Heidi and Jasmin sound like they're going to kill each other. I'd better go before any blood is shed .... take care and God bless!
Great story, indeed, Karen. Having been a foster parent myself and having adopted our youngest son, Jon, when he was still a baby, I can really appreciate the love you describe so perfectly in this story. Thanks for sharing and may God bless.
I have written a chapter called I Am That, I Am in this inspirational compilation book by best-selling authors and wonderful people from all walks of life xox :-D (Its sister book is called Adventures In Manifesting - Success and Spirituality)
My name is Teresa Coles. I live in Portland, Oregon, with my husband, Jimmy, and our seven children: Regina Marie (14), Timothy Xander (12), Gigi Michelle (11), Ethan Scott (9), James (Jimmy) Holt (7), Heidi Micole (5), and Jasmin Faith (2 1/2). All but three of our children are adopted.
