How our family was formed:
July 17th, seventeen years ago I asked a man to dance and his name was Daniel Sernekos. He said yes and we danced. I then asked him to dinner. He said no. The next night he came up to me and asked if the offer was still good. I, of course, said yes! That first date I asked him if he wanted children. He said yes, probably because it was not legal to foster or adopt.
Nine years went by, it became legal to foster and we jumped right in. We took our foster classes and three weeks later we got the call they wanted to give us a ten day old baby girl named Jasmine. The funny part was they made us take a birth class at the local hospital and they taught us about breast feeding. Not sure where we would use this but the class had a field day with the two gay men in the birthing class. Jasmine came and three months later we decided to have another child. The agency called us with a boy that was just about to turn four years old. We had been told Jasmine was open to be adopted and now a little boy would complete the family. Raymond stepped out of the social worker's car and grabbed my hand. We introduced him to his new Dads, Daddy and Poppy and then introduced him to Jasmine and our dog Arsha. Showed him his room and his eyes lit up. A car bed and the all the trimmings. When Jasmine turned eight months old we were told she would be leaving us to live with her biological grandparents. We were in shock but you can never take the love poured into a child away. Jasmine left on Palm Sunday. Three days went by and we called for another baby. They said it just so happened that they had a three month old needing to be placed. In came Justin on Good Friday. Three months old and only eight pounds. His little body was going through convulsions as he was going through drug withdrawal. The doctor said we were crazy for taking this little boy on. It was non-stop crying 24 hours a day. Dan and I took turns holding him in different positions to ease his pain. Justin could not hold down any liquids, choked on every meal and had us in a panic. One week went by and we thought we could not keep this little guy because we could not go to work. We called the agency and told them we could not keep Justin. They asked if we were sure and we said we thought so. They said they would find another home for Justin. Three days went by and I broke down crying because I became attached to Justin and did not think anyone else would care for him the way we were doing. We called the agency back up and said we decided to keep Justin. They asked if we were sure. We of course said we made our final decision. As God is my witness when we hung up the phone Justin stopped crying. A miracle was about to unfold before our very eyes. Justin started eating, gaining weight and started laughing and cooing. We then found out that Raymond had two sisters in foster care. We went to work to bring them into our home to keep their family together. First Maggie came at 2 yrs old and then Kayla at one year old. We then got the call that Justin's mom was pregnant again and would we take the baby. Of course we said, Ray had Maggie and Kayla it was only fair for Justin to have a biological sibling. Within three years we were a family of seven.
The state told us we had to either sell our home or put an addition onto it. They gave us a date. We had just bought Dan's salon so we had little money, so we put the house up for sale. If we could not sell our home they had already pre-adoptive homes for the girls. Not one person came to look at our home. The day before we had to give our answer the door bell rang. A contractor was there and asked if we could afford $40,000. I said yes but I knew this was not enough to put the addition on. He said I know you need two bedrooms but what would you do with the downstairs. I said a big living room with a fireplace. I love to read to the kids by the fire. He said he would have the plans and tell the state we would be keeping our children. We later found out that one of my students, Beatrice Wang, donated the remaining money so we could keep our family. She saw how we were with our kids and wanted us to stay as a family.
Our family has been featured in the HBO Documentary " All Aboard Rosie's Family Cruise" We have met so many wonderful people along our journey as a family. Our children have learned about the wonderful gift of giving back through our foundation. We have spoken as a family in front of PFLAG and strive to educate others about families like ours and try to promote others to foster and adopt and to make a difference in a child's life.
Because of Beatrice Wang and others like her, we have taken on the motto "pay it forward." In return we have watched so many others give back and in return we have felt the impact of the message it brings.
For the first three years of the R Vacation Cruise's we have gone and our children have learned that there are so many other families like ours. It truly helped to give our kids the confidence to grow as young adults.
I jump to the present. Raymond is in seventh grade, Maggie in fourth grade, Kayla and Justin are in second grade and Jayda has just started pre school. Our children are healthy, happy and truly loved. Every child deserves to have loving parents and to be able to grow. Starting this foundation has given our family a chance to help others and pay it forward. | 
