The Keller Family


the-keller-family

Our adoption story really is a miracle! In 2003, we were a family of three – we had a teenage daughter age 13. We had infertility issues so we decided to adopt through the state of Kansas since I was adopted through foster care as a child. We took MAPP training and were “officially ready” to adopt in February of 2004. We put our names in for a 3 & 5 yr old sibling set in May 2004 – we found out in July we were chosen to be their parents! We had such good luck with these siblings, we decided to get our foster license. Six months after we got our first two children, we were placed with a day old meth positive baby girl. Eight months later we were placed with another day old meth positive baby girl. Just three weeks after her birth, we were blessed to attend the birth, and adopt privately, the newborn brother of our adopted sibling set. One year later, we received a call from our first baby’s mother. She was homeless, pregnant again, still hooked on meth, and she voluntarily placed her baby boy with us at birth bringing our total to seven children in just three short years! God has RICHLY blessed us with our children AND their birth mothers. We have adopted four children through foster care and two privately that were siblings to children we already had.

We have become child advocates for drug endangered children, and adopting from foster care. We helped introduce House Bill 2602 in the Kansas House of Representatives this year. House Bill 2602 makes using illegal substances during pregnancy a crime in the state of Kansas. Jennifer does many public speaking engagements for DEC and will speak at the National conference in Utah as a keynote speaker. Nick and Jennifer were also nominated for Nancy Grace’s Extraordinary Parent Contest and received the 2007 Angels in Adoption Award in Washington, D.C. from Kansas Rep. Jerry Moran. Jennifer was one of 15 semi-finalists out of 20,000 nominees in Teleflora and NBC’s “Americas Favorite Mom” competition, and she appeared on the Today Show and a primetime 2008 Mother’s Day special. Jennifer won $10,000 so we are taking a family cruise in November – all nine of us. It’s stressful to think of it but I’m sure we’ll be fine!

Now we’re just trucking along with home schooling. Our oldest graduated from basic training this past summer and is a senior in high school so we’re very busy with that too!

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