The final story in this series; this time we meet the Terwiligers from Waycross, Georgia. They have 10 special-needs children, 6 of them adopted.
In the meantime, I hope you have enjoyed my writes about the Evans, Diamond, Porter, Pearson, and Yancey families, as well as the ones about the Sanduskys. I will write more stories featuring these families in the future; so stay tuned for those! You haven't heard the last from the Evans, Porter, Terwiliger, Pearson, Yancey, or the Sandusky families! :)
Mike Terwiliger here. Rather, OFFICER Mike Terwiliger here. (I am a policeman for our fine city of Waycross, Georgia; have been a cop for 10 years now!) I am the father to ten children, and I am married to my wife, Abigail Rose. We have been married for nearly 8 years now, and our lives together has been heavenly! I couldn't have asked for a better woman to be my wife!
My wife is a homemaker, but that is okay; she enjoys being home with our children. We have a total of ten children, 6 of them adopted. And all are special-needs kids, even our own four.
Our children are named, from the oldest down to the youngest: Xavier Mark (1), Devina Grace (2), Candace Rose (3), Nikodemos Lucian (4), Chandra Rita (6), Adhita Gabri (6), Finn Michael (7), Gabriel Matthew (8),
Johanna Nichole (9), and our oldest, Kristopher Olaf, who is 11. As I said above, all of our children have special needs; that is, all are physically disabled in one way or another; and our oldest (Kris) is mentally handicapped, too. He is both physically and mentally handicapped.
Okay. Let's describe briefly what is wrong with my kids and why they are the way they are.
For starters, Kristopher has cerebral palsy and is mentally handicapped. He cannot walk or talk, and he needs much in the way of physical and personal care; yet, despite all his needs, he is an engaging young man with a winning smile and the prettiest long lashed eyes of brown! He is incredibly handsome; and it isn't long before people are drawn to his beauty!
Next, after Kris, is Johanna. She is learning and developmentally delayed; she was born premature; and she weighed only one pound at birth. This caused her to lag behind most kids her age, and because of it, she often seems much younger in her actions or abilities; but despite her problems, she is a happy child who wants to be a mommy when she grows up.
Gabe has allergies really badly, and he is often having to go to the emergency room for his breathing. He is allergic to practically everything under the sun, and he is often sick and misses a lot of school; but he tries his best to cope by playing the drums. (He wants to become a drummer in a rock band when he gets older; and somehow, I don't doubt that he will; he is incredibly talented now as it is when it comes to playing the drums!)
Our youngest natural child (Finn) is also disabled; he, too, has allergies (but not to the extent of his brother Gabe), and he also has some learning problems, but, like his brother, he is happy and good-natured; and he wants to be a football player when he gets older!
Now on to the adopted contigent.
Chandra and Adhita are both from India, and they are both congenital dwarfs. That is, they were both born small, and both have smaller than normal arms and legs; and this makes them shorter than average. But they are giants when it comes to personality, and they delight in nothing more than showing off for us or for strangers. They both love to sing, and they also love to dance!
Our little Greek God..Nikodemos..is blind, but nothing daunts him. He gets around with the help of a cane or his older brother Gabe's help. Gabe is really good at assisting his little brother, and the two of them are the best of pals; they get along famously!
Candace Rose is our little Miracle from Russia; and she is a congenital amputee; she was born with only one arm; but other than that, she is remarkably healthy (although a rather big eater; she is rather chunky in size, and nothing pleases her more than devouring a box of chocolates until she gets sick!). She has short, light-brown hair, chubby, rose-colored cheeks, and big, sea-green eyes, and she is a real cutie!
Our youngest girl, Devina Grace, is the family boss; she is one who is always telling her mind, and she is one who can definitely try your patience! She was born in Kenya, Africa, and she came to us last year. She has spina bifida and right now gets around by dragging herself on her belly across the floor; but we don't doubt that one day she will learn to walk on braces and/or crutches. She is very determined in spirit, and she is one who is intensely stubborn! (She is of the Maasai tribe; she is very dark of skin, and she talks in a combination of baby-talk and Swahili; it is quite interesting trying to understand, let alone, trying to communicate, with her!) Devina is, most definitely, our little Maasai Queen!
Now, finally, but not least, our baby, Xavier Mark, who is our newest addition. He came to us from Africa, too, but he came to us from Sudan; and, like Devina, he is very brown of skin with a headful of kinky black hair and huge, limpid black eyes. He is absolutely adorable, and his dimpled smile lights up a room when he enters! Xavier came to us only 3 months ago, and we are getting used to having a baby around the house again; and Devina is jealous of him.
Xavier came to us because he has the virus that causes AIDS; his birth mother had AIDS when he was born, and she passed the virus on to her son; and he was abandoned shortly thereafter. Nobody wanted him; and so this was how we ended up with him. So far, other than being small and rather thin for a baby, he is very happy (but is rather susceptible to colds; this is why we always make sure he is well bundled up when he goes outside; and this is why we take every precaution with him, so he DOESN'T become sick). He takes liquid medication in his food or by a dropper, and he is also on antibiotics. (He's been in the hospital once since we got him; he had pneumonia, and he nearly died; but somehow, the little guy pulled through; and he's been doing marvelously ever since!)
There you have it: our family. We are the Terwiligers, and this is our story.
We have been blessed by a Loving God who saw it in His Heart to give us children nobody else wanted; and as a result, we became a Forever Family. A family of United Nations, but still..a FAMILY, just the same! And we have come to love our adopted children as much as we do our natural children; there are no favorites here, and each child is loved equally and unconditionally by both Abbie and myself!
oh, karen, i'd love to read more about this family...the children and the parents sound like people i'd like to get to know! all of your characters are terrific! and your talent for creating such families and such love is admirable! OUTSTANDING...*standing ovation* (((((HUGS))))) and love, karla. :)
A wicked Cajun Fairy named Robes Pierre entered the impenetrable Magical doll land of Sha Bebe. Queen Faustina, the ruler of the doll land, thought she had destroyed him, but he's back! Will the doll land survive his evil ways?
The familiar lament of dual-career parents raising children is, "I just can't do it all." The Libra Solution provides an alternative - a more satisfying and sustainable work and life approach - to the overwrought modern day norm.
A wicked Cajun Fairy named Robes Pierre entered the impenetrable Magical doll land of Sha Bebe. Queen Faustina, the ruler of the doll land, thought she had destroyed him, but he's back! Will the doll land survive his evil ways?
Mike Terwiliger here. Rather, OFFICER Mike Terwiliger here. (I am a policeman for our fine city of Waycross, Georgia; have been a cop for 10 years now!) I am the father to ten children, and I am married to my wife, Abigail Rose. We have been married for nearly 8 years now, and our lives together has been heavenly! I couldn't have asked for a better woman to be my wife!
