A good parent doesn’t have to be perfect. No one is perfect. No child is perfect either and keeping this in mind is important when we set our expectations. Choosing the become adoptive parents is an act that should be commended. Not only are the mom and dad to be embracing the special task of raising a child, but they’re going out of their way to give a child a second chance in life. When Shanna and her husband Joseph adopted a little boy, Milo. He had been born to a teen mom who had contacted the adoption agency and eventually been partnered with the couple

But, 5 years later, however, they received the most unbelievable and shocking phone call ever, and were asked to make a time-sensitive decision that could make or break their entire family. Just 5 years later, however, she contacted the couple again. This time, she wanted to know if they were interested in adopting a little girl she was pregnant with; Milo’s little sister. Joseph explained: “They contacted us and said, ‘Milo is going to be a big brother’ and asked if we would consider adopting his sister. “At the time I was like, ‘That’s a big one.’”

Even if their interest had been firm, the Weights had much to consider. They were already parents to both Milo and a biological son Nash. The lovely family had kept in regular contact with Milo’s mom, writing her letters as he grew up in a bid to keep her updated on how he was doing and how he was developing. Not once, however, had she hinted at anything like this. “We do have a good relationship with her and just think the world of her that she was able to be so selfless and just allow us to be parents,” said Shanna. Even so, the couple felt they weren’t suitably prepared to become parents again. Little Nash was only 20-months-old at the time, and adding a third child to the mix would undoubtedly increase the strain on the family, both then and in the future. 

Shanna said, though, that the picture began to grow clearer: “My first thought was like, ‘We can’t do this. But if she was supposed to come home with us, all the other stuff doesn’t matter and it will work itself out.” It took a week of stewing on the idea to come to a conclusion, and in the end they were helped by Milo himself. The moment he found out his birth mom was pregnant again, he told Joseph and Shanna that they needed to bring his sister home too. So it was that Milo’s natural sister, Onni,  was born and her adoptive parents then took her home just two days after her birth. Onni is doing well at home with her two older brothers and her loving parents who aim to give her the world.