Couple adopts 2 sons

This Thanksgiving, Amanda and P-nut Whitten’s family is complete.

The couple, along with their three children, welcomed Grant and Drayden into their family “officially” in May.

The brothers joined their family as foster children in May 2013, and the Whittens were able to adopt them at the end of May 2014.

“They are 9 and 6,” Amanda said. “We had had Grant before. The dad is my husband’s first cousin. They went into foster care. They were with three different families. We just decided that we knew it was the Lord saying that we needed to do this. Without Him, it wouldn’t be possible.”

Amanda said they had to do foster care first, but with the intent to adopt.

“We had to make sure that the children belong to the dad,” she said. “We just worked our way toward that by doing the meetings. Then we found out our adoption date. It was awesome for them to finally be ours.”

Amanda said before the boys were adopted, they had a fear of someone taking them.

“When they realized they were ours, that fear was gone,” she said.

The Whittens’ son was especially excited about two new brothers.

“I have a son who is the same age as the oldest,” she said. “He was very excited.”

Amanda said she’d like to encourage everyone who is able to foster a child.

“Foster care isn’t hard,” she said. “They say it’s hard to get people in Opp to foster children. They are a blessing.”

So far this year, six foster-parent adoptions have been successfully completed.