dad-of-8

Don't adjust your monitor. The picture has been intentionally blurred to protect the privacy of my 8 children. Eight children - one biological and seven by adoption.

I consider myself extremely fortunate and one of the luckiest people alive to be a part of their lives.

For all those who are thinking of adopting children as a means of achieving their family dreams, I hope this web site can be a resource in realizing those dreams.

0/24/04
My second grandchild was born in September of 2003, a handsome boy. Now, my oldest son and his wife have the "American Dream" - a successful marriage, a house in the suburbs, and one boy and one girl for children.  We are only three weeks from the next family wedding. My second youngest daughter will be married to a really great guy. Can't wait. The next wedding after that will be two months. Another daughter and another great guy. It amazes me that all the worry and anxious moments while my daughters were dating turned out to be so unnecessary. My youngest once said to me "Do you know why girls date all the wrong guys at first?" I said, "Why?" She replied, "So they will know when the right one comes along." At least for three of my four daughters, that's exactly how it has turned out.
7/23/03
Now I have another grandchild on the way. A boy to born in September. My granddaughter will have a brother. A miracle of life. If that wasn't enough to be joyful about, one of my children got engaged, this time my youngest daughter. Now I have three weddings to look forward to, one a year for the next three years. The first, in two weeks. My only regret is that my wife is no longer alive to enjoy these events with me. I've added another story on the "Success Stories" page. My thanks to M.S. for submitting it. It is a heart warming story about a single mom about to adopt her foster child.
12/19/02
Over a year has past since my last update. What a year for my family. The best and the worst all within one year. On the best side, I'm now a proud grandfather of a baby girl. It's my first grandchild and I couldn't be more delighted about it. Two of my children became engaged. Amazing enough, they actually picked excellent choices for their significant others. All that grief and worry about who they were dating turned out to be a waste of time. My youngest daughter graduated college, is now a forth grade teacher and is already half way to a Master's Degree. On the worst side, my wife passed away after a long illness. No words can properly express the grief that several of the family and I feel.
12/08/01
For some unknown I have been receiving considerable e-mail lately. It made me realize that nine months have passed since I updated the site a little. That's a long time and I apologize for that. Thanksgiving was special this year. With all that's going on in the world and this country I think we all felt a little closer. All my kids were there, except unfortunately, for one. Between my eldest son's wife, and the other kids girlfriends and boyfriends, a set of grandparents, my sister's family, my brother-in-law's family and even one biological mom, we had about 25 people. Dinner had to be "buffet style" as there was no way enough room for everyone to sit around the same table in my house. I posted another story on the "Success Stories" page. I also added an e-mailed comment at the end of "My favorite quote" page.
03/09/01
A few months ago I was asked to write an article for a nationally published magazine that has to do with adoption. To date the article has not been published. I decided to post it on the web site because I thought it might be of interest to you. Each of my children contributed to it and gave an opinion about an adoption issue. To read it, click here, or on "unpublished article" above. 
01/12/01
Another year has begun. We wish all who visit a happy and healthy New Year.
11/17/00
Some more birthdays have passed, so I updated the "Who are the children" page. A mixed blessing--they are getting older, wiser, more settled and mature--great-- but I on the other hand I am only getting older. Oh well, you just can't stop time.
11/05/00
On the "Success Stories" page I just posted the story of a single woman adopting a baby by first being the baby's foster parent. You can click on the link on the left to read it.
9/17/2000
A lot of time has passed since my last update. It's been a great summer for the family. My youngest son (boy #4--11 yrs. old) had his first girlfriend, which he met while attending day camp. On the last day of camp he got his first kiss. While it was only on his cheek, he is taking it as a truly momentous occasion in his life. My 14 year old (boy #3) attended sleep away camp this summer for a month. It turned out to be a great experience for him. For the first time away from home, he did great. He also had his first girlfriend. He went into camp as a very shy child and came out more talkative and outgoing than he has ever been.
Boy #2 (25 yrs. old) decided it was time to have his own place, so he is now living in an apartment of his own. Fortunately, he decided to move nearby, so the family sees him frequently. He's doing great. At times, I question what is the most important thing a parent can do for your child. Maybe it's this simple, give him/her a home with love, support and security until it is time for the child to live on his/her own.
Girl #4  is back in college. Between working part time and attending college full time, this young lady has quite a schedule. My only regret is that I won't be seeing her as often as I would like. Oh well, thank god for e-mail and telephones.
3/17/2000
I've finally added a page to the web site. It's  called "MY FAVORITE QUOTE". The quote, in my mind, explains a little  bit about why we want to become parents in the first place. To go to that page CLICK HERE.
This past week my two youngest boys (#3 and #4) started taking acting classes.  Boy #3, to hopefully help him overcome shyness and develop communication and social skills and boy #4 because I believe he truly has the personality and talent for it. When one of their older sisters asked, "Why?" I just said, "They already know how to act bad, I want them to learn how to act good".

3/8/2000
As soon as I came home from work today, my youngest son says excitedly "Dad, we have to celebrate". I said "Why". He says, "Don't you know, it's a special day?" I said "Why is this Wednesday so special". He smiled and quickly blurted out proudly, "It's my adoption anniversary!!" I felt bad for not remembering for a moment, then, I thought how great it was that not only was he not ashamed about adoption, but he was extremely proud and happy about it. I only hope that he will always feel like this.
3/3/2000
A few have written e-mail about why I included search boxes instead of  a list of sites I could recommend. First, there are so many that I didn't want to "play favorites" by listing a few and probably overlooking many worthy ones. Second, none of them, to the best of my knowledge, deal with adoption as I have, so to recommend a site might be confused with an endorsement of what the site proposes. I decided it would be best to make it easy for you to do your own searches and for you to decide which sites have suitable information to suit your own needs.
3/1/2000
I've received several requests to suggest adoption sites for visiting. There are many on the internet, many useful, with considerable information. To make it easy for you to get more information I posted the "About.com" search box at the top of the page. Just click on the "go" button. At the bottom of the page I posted the 4Anything search box. Just type adoption in the search box and click search and it will return a multitude of choices.
2/24/2000
If you have visited before, I am sure you will notice that I finally updated the site a little. I even put the correct age for a couple of my children. They were the first to say " Dad, can't you even get our ages right?" 
1/14/2000
A new year, a new century. My family wishes all of you a Happy and healthy New Year. Boy #3 still has me out there jogging with him every night. We're not ready to run a marathon (not even close) but we are making some progress. Girl #4 just got her grades for the term that just passed. Four A's and a B, not bad. Everyone else is doing OK. I hope to update this page more often and add more features.
11/27/99
Thanksgiving has come and gone. But for my family it was kind of special this year. For the first time, or at least for as long as I can remember dinner wasn't held at my house. My oldest son (Boy#1) had it at his. Two of his sisters (Girls #2 and 4) came early to his house to help him and his wife prepare everything. I guess that's what every parent wants (besides not having to clean up the mess), to see their children get along well enough to plan and have such events. The funniest (and best) moment was when Boy#1 decided to give a toast before dinner about how great it was that we all are together for Thanksgiving and that he hopes it will always be like this, when, all of a sudden my youngest boy (Boy#4) yells out "This is just like "Full House". TV does have its' influence. By the way Boy#3 and I are still jogging every night. Progress toward are goals is slow, but we are trying.
11/10/99
One good thing about having a large family is that sometimes the needs of one of your children coincide with yours. Boy#3 decided he has to lose some weight and I know I am out of shape so every night we have been going out to jog. We are actually making some progress toward meeting our goals and spending this extra time together has helped us get to know each other better, not a bad deal.
10/8/99
I would like to thank those of you who have sent e-mail, I have enjoyed reading it and answering it. I just want to point out that I am not a source of adoptable children. The site is only to provide information about how I adopted children,