Two brothers in Oklahoma City enjoyed Thanksgiving in their forever home this week after being adopted together in the nick of time.
When John and Jennifer Honeycutt got married 15 years ago, they decided to wait to add to their family, KFOR reported.
“With the plan that we would foster at a later date,” Jennifer recalled.
In July, the couple decided it was time to begin the adoption process and hoped to be matched with two teenagers who needed a place to call home.
“I just wouldn’t have been able to keep up with a toddler or for that matter even like an elementary child,” John told the outlet.
As the Honeycutts looked at the Oklahoma Heart Gallery website, they noticed 17-year-old Devon and his younger brother, Ryan.
“It was somewhere between providence and serendipitous,” John commented.
The gallery uses photography “to raise awareness, inspire communities, and recruit adoptive families for Oklahoma’s legally free children,” the site reads.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Honeycutts’ first meeting with the two brothers was through video chat. However, when they met in person one week later, something just clicked.
A team from DHS worked nonstop to help the couple adopt Devon before he turned 18 and aged out of DHS custody.
On September 30, just eight days before his birthday, the brothers’ adoption was finalized.
“It happened very quickly and I am grateful for it,” Ryan said, adding, “I can finally do school athletics. There’s a lot more freedom. I can leave the house whenever.”
In a Facebook post on Friday, the gallery celebrated with the Honeycutts, writing “This family now has a special reason to be thankful this Thanksgiving – spending their first holiday together after the adoption of two teens. This is absolutely what it is all about!”
The adoption process was expedited because of Devon’s age, so the Honeycutts and DHS officials urged those waiting to adopt to be patient.
“We feel lucky,” John noted.
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