Sam's Story

My name is Sam. I was adopted at age thirteen by a very nice family. I want to tell you about my life before my adoption, and since, so you will know how wonderful adoption is for older kids.

I was born In October, 1985, in Eugene Oregon and I was the oldest of five kids. My mother did all of the working and my father stayed home. Normally he either sent us kids to bed for the day while he slept or he would starve and beat us. Sometimes he would bind one of us with duct tape and tell the other kids to throw things at our brother or sister. If we didn't cooperate, he would whip us with a belt or metal hanger. Other times he would try to drown us in the bathtub. Whenever my mother tried to stop him, which hardly ever happened, he would threaten to shoot her or take us out to the woods and beat us with a hammer.

My father didn't feed us very much. Every day he gave most of the food to his dogs. Sometimes when he was asleep, I would take food stamps from his wallet and go to the store to buy food for us kids. I normally got caught and then he'd beat me and eat whatever food I brought back for us to eat. Somtimes I saved my hot lunch from school and brought it home to feed my brothers and sisters.

While all of this was going on, my grandfather was sexually molesting me. I thought all of this was normal until the police took us away from my parents to live with our aunt when I was ten years old.

I lived with my aunt, cousin, and four brothers and sisters for two years. The house was messy - no one cleaned anything - and there were clothes all over the place. I didn't go to school very often because I didn't want to, and my aunt didn't really care. She borrowed money from my grandma to buy food, and sometimes Grandma would come and cook for us.

My aunt wasn't physically abusive to us, but she was verbally abusive and we continued to be neglected. When I was 12, we were finally put into state foster care. The house we were renting caught fire and we were not able to live there anymore.

Our caseworker thought it would be difficult to find a foster home where all five of us kids could live together. She was right. My sisters, Ashley and Annie, went to one home; my youngest brother, Andrew, went to another; and my brother Jonathan and I went to a third home. After a few weeks, Andrew joined Jonathan and me in our home with Ed and Judy, our foster parents.

Ed and Judy were cool! They made us feel like we fit right in. We were part of regular family activities and celebrations. We even traveled to Arizona, California, and Alaska while we lived with them.

We also went to a good school, but I had a hard time completing my work because I hadn't learned the discipline of studying and turning in my assignments. I ate as much as my foster parents would let me because I was so hungry. It was the first time I felt I was full after a meal.

While I was growing up, I always thought things would just get better. I didn't think about having a different family because I already had a family - it just wasn't a good one. I would pray and ask God if He would make my parents die so I could live with my aunt, but obviously He had other plans. I think God wanted me to go through these problems so that when He did fix my life, I would appreciate my new family and everything that I did not have before.

After the judge terminated our biological parents' rights, we were free to be adopted. Our caseworker distributed our photo nationwide and we waited. I wondered if anyone would want us... I wondered if anyone would want me. I was mostly concerned that my younger brothers and sisters find homes.

We didn't have to wait too long. In October 1998, our foster parents took us to Washington to see "Uncle" Gary and "Aunt" Heidi and their daughters, Katie and Mandie. "Uncle" Gary was Ed and Judy's son. While we were there, our caseworker came to see us. She said that she had found a family that wanted to adopt us. My brothers and I looked at each other and wondered who it might be. Then our caseworker pointed "Uncle" Gary and "Aunt" Heidi who were smiling at us. From now on we would call them mom and dad!

We went back home with Ed and Judy, said goodbye to our friends at school, packed our belongings, and prepared to join our new family. On November 11, 1998, my brothers and I moved to Washington. I'm very glad that my brothers and I are still together, because I don't know how I would be able to live without having any of my natural siblings with me. They are all I wanted to protect the whole time. My two sisters had already been placed in their adoptive home with our Aunt Sheila, Uncle Greg, and cousin Nathan.

My life is so different now - it is normal! I attended a Christian school for three years and am now home-schooled. Over the past three years, I have worked hard to improve my grades and study habits. I have lots of friends and am involved in several sports. I am a serious athlete and hope to play football in college. I middle school, I ran for the track team in the 100-, 200-, and 400-mete sprints, and I also competed in shot put and long jump. I played football last fall as a fullback and middle linebacker and plan to play baseball this spring.

Having a family has helped me learn to trust people. Now I know that not everybody lies. There are people who fulfill their promises and commitments. Trust also comes with my faithfulness to my parents and family.

God is a very important part of my life now because of all the great things He has done for me. My faith in Him has grown through the trials that He has allowed me to experience. My faith makes a difference in how I treat and react to others and to the challenges I face.

My brothers and I are very capable of achieving any goal that we set if we work hard and allow God to accomplish His purpose in our lives. I know that all three of us will be very successful in whatever the Lord leads us to do.

It seems that my adoptive parents have always been a part of my life. I love them with all my heart. I'm so honored that God chose me to be a part of this family.

Sam's favorite scripture is Jeremiah 29:11-13 NIV
"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart."