I tend to hoard magazines until I have time to read them. I subscribe to a few, Vanity Fair and Oprahs’ are my favorite. Although I don’t subscribe to People, I admit to occasionally buying it when a cover catches my fancy.

Any magazine that doesn’t get totally read, goes into my travel drawer for next time I travel. At that time, I choose whatever magazines get my attention and bring them for the travel, leaving them behind at distant locals after I’ve read them.

This last trip to visit family, I pulled out an old People Magazine. December 2003 to be exact. Michael Jackson was on the cover, but I”m not really sure what enticed me to buy it back then.

I flipped through on the plane, casually glancing at the pages when one page got my attention.

Two Houses, One Home was the headline.

I tore out the page and put it aside until now, finally, three and one-half years later I am reading the article.

It turns out that two friends, who live less than a mile away from each other, each adopted two children from a sibling group of five. The eldest child aged out of the foster system)

The two women bring up the four girls as one big family and often share dinners and activities together.

One of the women, Farrel, became a foster parent and fostered the four children for a short time. She then enlisted her friend to help her raise these children.

Each of the women has legally adopted two of the girls and resolved to bring them up as a close knit sibling group.

Gosanangelo.com still has the story on the internet here and Low and behold, while researching further, I discover they aren't young moms:

Here's a quote from the article:

"Why are you crying, Mama?" asked Darlajia Farrell, 4, as she watched her new mother weep after Common Pleas Judge Kim Clark formally declared her adoption legal.

"I'm crying because I'm happy, sweetie. Your last name and mine are finally the same," said Barbara Farrell, 42, who adopted Darlajia and her sister Keyona, 3, after spending two years as their foster parent.

Humm. A forty-two year old mom adopting toddlers. Sweet!

And then,

Enter Brendle, 51, who had gotten to know the two older children when they visited their younger sisters at Farrell's house. Brendle, who is divorced, had always wanted children as well...........

.................When she learned that Darlajia's and Keyona's older sisters had been removed from their foster homes and would possibly be sent to a group facility because it was difficult to place them, "I said no way. I would adopt them and do whatever it takes, any training necessary, so the girls could remain together as a family."

God Bless this family. I hope they are doing well after all this time.