Well this week I have the amazing privilege of adopting two beautiful, bouncing TEENAGE girls!

My daughter’s birth daddy died when they were 2 and 4, I met them for the first time when they were 7 and 9. In fact it was my youngest, Emily, 7^th birthday the first time our eyes locked and we just new we were going to be together forever… she was coloring in a book, stopped and looked up at me and said, “You’re going to be my new daddy, aren’t you?” Seven years later, Alexis will be 16 on January 1, and Emily will be 14 in February.

Alexis is astounding! She was in a shell, kind of her own little world when I met her, and now she is confident, alive and has more compassion then I have ever seen. The most incredible attribute she has, and this is over the top, Alexis knows how to manage me very well. She knows everyone of my moods and how to help me gain “True” perspective.
  I cannot wait to learn from her as she becomes a missionary, wife and mother, I love you Alexis.

Emily is about to take over the world! When we met, she would follow me all over the place. In fact we had to nickname her, “Shadow” as I could go no where without my little shadow trailing right behind, she needed a daddy and I needed a girl. It was a match made in heaven; we go toe-to-toe at times and challenge each others inner strengths and weaknesses, but at the end of the day, with music or none, we dance around the kitchen and everything makes sense. Thanks, “shadow” for being my little girl.

People use the term, “Step-Child”, “Blended Family”, or my “Adopted Daughters”… I get to simply live the joy of being the father of the two most breath-taking girls in the world. You are my babies!