Mommy Life: 20 adopted children - one amazing family

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November 23, 2007 6:40 PM

20 adopted children - one amazing family

Twenty is enough
Couple, their many adopted children thankful on 'our most special holiday'
Thursday, Nov 22, 2007
By Bill Lohmand, Richmond Times-Dispatch
Before they sit down to dinner today, Mike and Meg King will take a moment to give thanks for their children.

Olivia, Claire, Sara-Grace, Natalie, Jessica, Jack, Mark, Liz-Marie, Molly, Mary Catherine . . .

. . . They might want to put the turkeys back in the oven so they don't get cold . . .

. . . Christina, Victoria, Anastacia, Rachael, Rebecca, Julianna, Maddox, Yana Noelle, Sawyer, Maia.

"We didn't really set out to adopt 20 children," said Mike.

But that's precisely how many will be gathered around the table today -- plus two boyfriends -- to say grace over a pair of 22-pound Butterball turkeys, stuffing cooked in twin lasagna pans, Meg's mother's corn pudding recipe multiplied by 10, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, 72 rolls and six pies (two sweet potato, two Toll House, one apple and one mincemeat).

It will be a feast, but more important, as Meg described it, "our most special holiday."

Thanksgiving is the day the Kings commemorate the adoption of each of their 20 children, ages 1 to 21, all of whom were born overseas and most of whom came from Russia. It's a tradition that dates to Thanksgiving 1993 when Mike and Meg were in Novgorod, Russia, signing papers to bring home twins Molly and Mary Catherine, now 15, their first children.