Just the 12 of us Washington family has many reasons to celebrate Mother’s Day
Mia Rogers gives her mom, Wendi Rogers, a hug. Mia was adopted in 2012.
Cade Rogers, 6, was adopted in 2014 by Wendi and Kenny Rogers. He was born with biliary atresia, a condition that led to liver transplant surgery in February. The operation was successful.
There are 10 children in the Rogers family of Washington, and parents Kenny and Wendi Rogers are thinking of adopting again. The children are, from left, Brynlee, Cade, Mia, Avah, Sage, Paul, Gina, Camye, Blake and Chloe are the Rogers family children.
From left, Mia, Avah and Brynlee Rogers pose for a photo. The trio were among six children adopted by Wendi and Kenny Rogers.
Paul Rogers oversees his younger sisters, Mia, Brynlee and Avah, as they play with the family cat outside.
One picture was all it took.
Washington resident Wendi Rogers gazed at the computer screen, almost 7,000 miles from the little girl whose dark eyes captured her attention – a child Rogers never met but recognized as her own.
“I thought, ‘That’s her,'” she said.
For Rogers and her husband, Kenny, adoption is a means to bring their children home. In addition to four biological children, the couple adopted three children from South Korea and three from China.
“I feel like, if one of your children was in a foreign country, you would do anything to get them home. You wouldn’t stop,” said Kenny Rogers, a maintenance planner for Consol Energy. “We never pursued (adoption) unless … we felt, ‘That is our child.’ From that point forward, anything you have to do, you do.”
Married in 1998, the couple had their first four children, Chloe, 19, Blake, 16, Camye, 15, and Paul, 10, then found out they were unable to have more. They felt compelled to adopt; mission trips to the City of Children in Ensenada, Mexico, a Christian home for children, further cemented their desire.
They researched fostering and adopting from the United States. But, because state law mandates no more than five children in an adopted family, they chose international adoption. That’s when Rogers came across the photo of Mia, now 7.
In 2011, the couple traveled to South Korea to bring her home. They returned in 2012 for Avah, now 8. While there, they were sitting in the orphanage when, “a little boy comes waddling in, in his diaper,” Wendi Rogers said. “It was Cade. … Cade was very, very sick in Korea. He was kept almost exclusively in the hospital. He was in the orphanage only 36 hours and we happened to be there.”
Again, they felt compelled to bring their child home.
“I never dreamed we would be approved. At that time, South Korea was cutting back on their adoptions,” Wendi Rogers said.
It took a lot of paperwork, but after 14 months, Cade came home in 2014.
Cade’s condition improved and Gina, 14, Sage, 10, and Brynlee, 3, came home in 2015. Then, in September, Cade, who was born with biliary atresia, a life-threatening condition in which the liver’s bile ducts do not have normal openings, had a medical emergency and was placed on the transplant list.
He had a liver transplant Feb. 6 at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC.
“The doctor said he had never seen more of a textbook case,” said Kenny Rogers.
Cade was in the hospital for just 13 days and was able to go to Disney World April 27 to fulfill his wish from the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
“We are very fortunate,” said Wendi Rogers.
Brynlee also has biliary atresia, but so far, has only mild symptoms.
Like any siblings, the children sometimes squabble. But they’ve all had fairly smooth transitions moving from their birth countries to their home in Washington.
They spend their mornings homeschooling with Mom and their afternoons participating in various activities. The oldest three have jobs at a fast-food restaurant.
The family is involved with Washington Church of Christ and the kids love going to the movie theater, though Mom and Dad are strict with what films they are allowed to watch.
While out and about, they’ve heard it all, but the couple takes it in stride.
“My favorite is, ‘You are so awesome,'” said Wendi Rogers. “Sometimes, I’m like, ‘Really? You don’t know what I just said 10 minutes ago.’ I can be ugly like anyone else.”
“People mean well,” said Kenny Rogers, adding, “She’s never been ugly.”
The couple said they will probably expand their brood at some point. And, although parenting 10 children takes a lot of patience – and “astronomical” grocery bills – they wouldn’t change a thing.
“When you’re waiting for them to get here, they’re already part of your family,” said Kenny Rogers. “It’s like, ‘Finally, they’re home.'”