Cindy (Ternes) Harms
May 2009:
Married 21 years, mother of 4 children, one biological and three adopted....
In June 2005 we lost one of our Korean adopted twins who died to an accidental drowning.
On Sept 2006 I was promoted to Supervisor of Transportation of Concordia College in which I am currently still employed.
In 2007 we decided to remodel our house and took out a second mortgage.
In January 2008 our house was declared totaled to a house fire due to a gas leak in a hot water tank. Lucky everyone got out safely in -25 below weather with no socks/shoes or coats on. My husband Randy rescued a MSUM college girl we had renting our apartment. We decided to try and rent the small grandma house next door to keep the kids in their old school and be able to do inventory and clear out our house. We filled 9 farm trucks full with all of our personal contents. That ash wednesday I told the priest I knew what it was like to be free of my earthly possessions. The hardest was losing photos of our deceased son and daughter. Imagine 7 people living in a two bedroom house, no closets and one bathroom with a sink that clogged non-stop. The water pressure was so bad, it would take a hour for the washer to fill. We had a stove that only had one burner that worked but heated high and a refrigerator that leaked. The built in table was 12 inches away from the door of the refrigerator and the kids would have to get up off the bench if anyone wanted something from the fridge.
We were able to keep the foster boy we had throughout the whole housing transformation but was returned after a year to his biological father. This was very difficult for all of us. After a very long 14 months, we are currently back in our house and continue to do foster care. I have come to appreciate each day in our new second story house we built on.
(click on picture to enlarge)
2004:
I missed the class reunion in 1999. My husband and I were in China,completing the adoption of our daughter Juliana. We spent 2 1/2 weeks in China.
In December of 2000, we traveled to Seoul South Korea to complete the adoption of twin boys. We weren't finished yet! In January of 2003, we welcomed our daughter from Korea.
We also have a biological son. Do the math. Two five year olds, two four year olds, and a two year old. Our house is very busy.
(click on picture to enlarge)
Children L to R: Seth 5, Juliana 5, Adam 4, Josephine 2, Caleb 4