LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Family is what you make it, even when your children come from an unexpected place.
A local couple has adopted five children: three brothers, two sisters.
"I knew that we were going to adopt and I was going to marry a man that wanted to adopt as well," adoptive mother Alisha said.
Alisha comes to adoptive motherhood honestly. She was adopted as a child, and now she even works for a foster care agency and all that experience only made her certain she and her husband Mike were on the right track.
"We were like, we want to foster, we want to adopt, let's get it started. So, we started the fostering process with the county in 2016 and did their classes and then found out my biological sister needed a home," Alisha said.
Alisha is essentially a mother to her own sister - Chevelle - who is 16 years younger. Not long after that, a sibling set of four came along… only they didn't know they were siblings.
Before long, Lillian (adopted daughter) was joined in the home by her three brothers: Benjamin, Jason, and Jesus.
Benjamin, the youngest, and maybe the most outspoken, explains the universal sibling dynamic… even as adoptees.
"Ever since we got adopted, we've been getting along. We have times that we're angry at each other, and sometimes we're sad at each other sometimes - we are happy for each other and sometimes we're joyful," Benjamin said.
Adoptive father Mike and Alisha say they had to buy a bigger house, a bigger SUV, and the food bill got bigger too… but there's never been a second thought.
"If they're in my home, they're in my care, they're my kid. Whether it was a foster or whether it was adoption or anything. If they're in my house, I'm gonna take care of them like they are my own," Mike said.
