My name is Helen Brown; I live in Radnor, Pennsyvlania, with my husband, Chuck, and our five children, three, of whom, we adopted from Korea.
Our children are as follows: Ramona Grace (13); Thaddeus (Tad) Michael (11); Jason Patrick (10); Chelsea Dawn (7); and the youngest, Ian Shane (3). They are the lights and loves of our lives. We cannot imagine our world without any of them.
We adopted Ramona five years ago at six. She has matured into a beautiful young lady with a compassionate heart. Tad came next; he joined our family three years ago when he was 8. The newest member is Ian Shane, who joined us a little over a year ago. They may not look like us in the physical sense, but they are as important to us as are our two birth children. We are still their mother and father; nothing nor nobody can ever take them away from us. They are our children forever and ever. And we happen to love all three of them very much.
We didn't plan to add to our family: it just happened. A lady at our church has started a community for adoptive parents and she also acts as a liason to help get the ball rolling. She specializes in looking for families to adopt children with special needs, children who are older, or children who are of a different race. She should know about this: after all, she and her husband adopted over 50 children, most of them who happen to have special needs. Ever since I met the Sandusky family, I and Chuck have wanted to adopt, so that was what we did, and we haven't been sorry for even a minute. It's been nerve-wracking at times (the waiting, the paperwork, and the homestudies most of all), but more often than not, it's brought Chuck and I closer together, and it was a happy day when Tad, Ramona, and Ian joined the Brown clan.
I figured if Louisiana and Bill Sandusky could adopt children nobody else wanted, then, by God, so could we; so that was exactly what we did.
When you see our kids, you will probably notice that three of them are disabled. Ian has cerebral palsy; as for Tad, he has a form of dwarfism. Meanwhile, Ramona has Down syndrome. We have no issues with that at all; to us, they are just kids who happen to be disabled; they are much more than their disabilities, and we will do everything in our power to make sure that they have the most out of life.
If we could, we would do it all over again. And maybe, perhaps, one day we will. The Sandusky family, and others like them, have truly inspired us. We would like to have a houseful of little children; we certainly have the room and certainly enough love in our hearts to be able to do so!
Well, that is our story so far. You will probably hear more about us in the future; this probably won't be the last time you'll hear from us. Until then, this is Helen Brown saying so long; may God bless you as much as He's blessed our family!
~Sincerely, your new friend from Tennessee, Helen Kay. :)
