Mahlon is the 2nd of 10 children. He has 9 sisters. Mahlon has 6 nieces and 7 nephews (who are just adorable) and we love spending time with them. Mahlon's family is very close to each other. They all live in this community except for 3. They are always getting together for birthdays and the holidays. We also get together for Sunday dinners (with lots of fried/baked chicken and they always have ice cream!!!)
Mahlon worked on the family farm along with his sisters since he was 14. Over time they designed and built their own facilities. Their cattle program starts with bottle-fed calves. They raise them till they are 2 years old. Other projects they are doing are raising turkeys and chickens. They process their own turkeys, beef and chickens. It is a tremendous amount of work but very rewarding. Everything is natural so there is no preservatives!
Sundays are usually a day for everyone to kick back and relax. That is usually a good day to go to the lake for a picnic, watch movies or go fishing.
Nieces and Nephews at Our Wedding
Teresa is the 2nd to the youngest in a family of 11. She has 8 brothers and 2 sisters. She has 28 nephews and 13 nieces. They are all very dear to us and we love to have them over or just hang out with them. (Most of these nieces and nephews had a part in our wedding.) Most of our family lives in this community and the three who don't, we usually see a couple of times a year. The rest we usually see on a weekly basis sometimes more. Ours is a very close knit family and we depend on each other. Both of our families are very excited and supportive of our plans to adopt and are looking forward to the arrival of a new baby.
Teresa also grew up on a farm with all the work and fun that went with it. We had peacocks, horses, kittens, dogs and 2 pet crows. The crows got to where they would talk some! Teresa's Dad raised stock cows, farmed and custom hay baled.
At one time he had a saw mill. Dad was a Jack of all trades! He could do anything he put his mind to. Teresa's Mom always had a huge garden and lots of flower beds. Teresa's Mom always had time to take the whole crew swimming, (twice a day!!) and she always read us stories after supper.
Our House and Neighborhood
Our Home
We live in a rural farming community and are surrounded by family and friends. There are lots of children of all ages close by. A lot of them are related and most of Mahlon and Teresa's family live within
6 miles of us! This is a small community, but the people around here are there for you. There is a lot of support! We have a good school system. They are smaller schools but they have a lot of hands on with the kids.
Enjoying the Lake
Our house is a 2 bedroom and 2 bath. We have a large living room and nice kitchen with an office. There is also a full sized basement. Our home has a huge yard with shade trees. There is plenty of room for a swing set and a sand box. There is lots of room to run, bike and just have fun.
If we get bored with the country life there are amusement parks, zoos, theatre, sporting events and shopping malls within a ½ hour to an hour drive.
American Adoptions, a private adoption agency founded on the belief that lives of children can be bettered through adoption, provides safe adoption services to children, birth parents and adoptive families by educating, supporting and coordinating necessary services for adoptions throughout the United States. For more information on American Adoptions please call 1-800-ADOPTION (236-7846).
