14 Adoptees Surprise Mom and Dad with New Family Room

I loved growing up in Arizona we have the best sunsets the full of orange and yellows it's really pretty Arizona's home it's family we think it's beautiful and wonderful it's just an all-around great place to live my story starts in Arizona I was given a 30% chance of living to the age of five I beat it by 20 years I was born with a congenital heart defect they actually had another family lined up to adopt me but when the other family found out that I was really sick and going to need future surgeries and was most likely not going to live past the age of five they backed out of the adoption the Atherton's was kind of like their respite family so the Atherton said well we we already love her so we'll keep her and that's that's how I came to the Atherton household my birth father was killed in some sort of skirmish slash war and so my mother gave me to my grandmother who was living in a one-bedroom flat with a whole lot of other kids and she thought the best option for me was to be put in an orphanage that adopted out two Americans and so my mom and dad found me and adopted me I am from India and I was found on the side of the road and so they took me to an orphanage and a doctor found out that I had a murmur and so I was sent over to Arizona to get my heart problem fixed and the family that hosted me decided to keep me and if it wasn't for my parents I probably want to be alive when we first got married we decided to build our family and do it through adoptions one thing led to another we ended up with 14 kids after all was said and done it started over 40 years ago with Joe and Josh they were brothers they were five and a half and three and a half we come from all over the world we have about like six or seven from different countries we had guardianship of Abbey from Ethiopia dangerous from India Reagan and junior from Korea Misty's from Haiti and several were born in Phoenix I was born here in Phoenix I was adopted three months old it was in foster care for that little stint of time and then just welcome to the family my parents have adopted people who have multiple health issues seven out of the 14 have been hospitalized six of our children were born with heart defects several of whom have had asthma one has diabetes one developed lupus our baby Linda died when she was only eight weeks old Becca has had several surgeries she takes 50 pills a day she sleeps with oxygen at night she really needs a heart-lung transplant but four facilities have turned her down my sister kami she was born had not quite 26 weeks I was one pound 13 ounces the first time we met kami she was in the hospital and one of the nurses said do you want to hold her now kami was our last child so we've held a lot of babies but we looked at how tiny she was and we said no we don't want to hold her we're afraid she's gonna break you know and the nurse said it's okay you're gonna be fine and gave us this tiny tiny little baby because we never held one that small there's a saying that blood is thicker than water but I've adopted and so none of these people are blood related to me but they are my family and I would do anything for them and I know that they would do anything for me my parents are the most giving kindest gentlest people like they have moved hell and high water to take care of us people will say well do you really want to go and find your real parents and I'm always so amazed somebody would even say that because my parents are my real parents they are the ones who raised me they're the ones who love me they support me they are my rock [Music] sometimes there's like so many people around we are kind of chaotic sometimes and you're kind of crazy we get together mostly on holidays people pop in and out have dinner and then leave they leave about 7:00 but it always comes and goes with siblings stopping by we have nieces nephews there's grandchildren and another grandchild on the way the most we've had at one time was probably ten kids there's always someone you can turn to there's always someone watching what you're doing there's just always people here at one Christmas we had actually a homeless family living with us we always made an effort to hug family dinner every night Friday nights we do pizza night we turn off the TV and we all sit down have a meal together and talk our family room and kitchen is where we're all together so it's a very special place [Music] my parents give constantly and it's and it's in a way where they don't get the attention or recognition because they don't want it you're like all right so how do we show them that we appreciate them and how do we show that hey we see what you're doing and we recognize it and were amazed by you so we we thought maybe we'll redo the the family room area because that's where we all hang out the most and that way you know they can walk in and be like yeah they did this for us so every day they're gonna walk in and be reminded of how grateful we are like problem with the family room now is the color has been up for a long time so it kind of dates it there's a lot of stuff on the shelves and the countertops and things are stacked in front of each other it doesn't have much design to it so it'd be nice to be able to have places for each of these items that need to be displayed the leather there's a lot of leather and it doesn't make it as cozy of a family room the rug itself is pretty old and it's not as soft as it used to be the kids and I we've all been able to chat and decide on things and kind of funny because we realize we don't all have the same thoughts so we went on to the house app and found Jenny and looked through her profile and our designs and we thought she'd be a really good fit our goals for this room is to make something that is family friendly for all ages I just want to make sure that this is a home that they can live in that is not only beautiful and aesthetically pleasing but something that they can really be comfortable and it's really important to keep the family heirlooms and the photos but bring them together in a more cohesive way I have display cases bookcases where they're still on display the family can still see them it's still warm and inviting I just want it to be a little bit more cohesive a lot of the pieces in the home are very horizontal so in the entertainment center I wanted to bring out the built-in put in a console have the TV above it and then add a couple of nice hutches on the side so that we can display things but also brings height to the room I'm hoping that it will stay comfy and cozy and really keep a warm feeling that my parents have worked so hard to bring to this family it really means a lot to do this for my parents my mom has always talked about redoing the house but with everything going on the kids and school and appointments it would have been put on the back burner so I'm really happy that all the kids came together and we were able to create a fabulous place for her it's always been comfortable but with Jenny's help I'm really excited to use this place so I've been doing a lot of shopping on house and let's look at some sofas so let's see what we can find I like what I like that one yeah let's see that one comes in any other colors the light light brown look I really like that with buy it okay yeah new couch [Music] but I want to show you what I'm thinking about for this wall I found this beautiful hutch in the house shop it has glass fronts I think it will be able to display all your parents beautiful things they've collected over the years and I want to show you using the 3d feature what its gonna look like in the space ok click here and there it is it looks really nice but it looks kind of big is it gonna get in the way of the walkway not at all in fact let me show you it's not too deep it has a nice profile it has metal on the back the glass fronts will be able to display your mom's items I think it's gonna be perfect if we do 2 against that wall and then maybe one of your dad's photography pieces in between the two oh yeah he would love that should we get it you should totally buy it ok let's do it you're gonna add it to our cart we're done Allison this stuff has arrived on our doorstep and it looks wonderful I hope that the new space brings our family closer together it's been really fun my mom and dad are gone for a long weekend getaway they know that we have something planned for them while they're gone but I don't think they know that we're gonna completely redo this space for that [Music] I think we're good great when are your parents getting home could be a few hours but knowing how my dad drives could be like right now let's do it I didn't know what to expect when we came in I was amazed at furniture and how good it looked it feels warm to me it feels welcoming it doesn't feel formal and I love how that looks I just love it we wanted to have the two bookcases on both sides of the television so that you can still see the things that they've collected on trips family heirlooms the things that are special to the family still have a big presence in the room and the focus isn't just on the television oh my picture he's so cool that is there you know he was so excited to see that there I went to Oregon they took pictures three clips and so that was the main thing they wanted to see I know I love the carpet the carpet is great it's got a great patterns got great colors and I do think it's not gonna show a whole lot of things that we're gonna get on it for sure I love the rug because it brings in color but it's also really durable it's made from 100% recycled bottles and it's also seen resistant have a seat I love the couches I think the couches look great before the family had a lot of leather in here it's easy to clean I wanted to keep a leather piece but I also wanted to bring in some upholstered pieces it brings warmth and texture into this space so we wanted to make sure we were using performance grade fabrics so that even though the kids spill they can just wipe it up and it's not gonna be a problem so far they've survived the cats so that's good I think it's really comfortable I think it's super soft it's closer together more intimate so you can carry on a conversation with each other before between the couches was just a large empty space by bringing these two tables in it allows them to be able to bring those together and create a larger table that they can sit around so they look nice but they're also super functional for the family we wanted to bring in some end tables which the room didn't have before it allows us to have some task lighting it just gives like a little landing space and helps bring the space in and make the little cozier you see the pictures in there was a gallery wall but it was just sort of mix of photos different sizes different frames and it wasn't very cohesive I really wanted to bring that together make it more simple clean lines so that everyone could really be a focus on the wall it's nice to see some of the families make sure some of the wedding pictures everybody chose their own pictures so that's pretty exciting to the kids areas fantastic I love the rolling shelves that have baskets in it to store toys it is fabulous it looks wonderful we can wheel it out if we need to we found a beautiful piece on house that holds all his toys and it just creates a nice place for him to easily access his toys but then easily put them away it feels amazing to do this for my mom or my dad they do so much for so many people I just can't say enough about how much I appreciate what they have done you get kind of blown away when someone else comes in and knows what they're doing and arranges things and makes the colors all work together and it the design doesn't make a difference home is your safe place home is where love lives and home is where you're always welcome it feels welcome it feels warm and that's what I want I want a warm welcoming place for everybody who walks through that front door [Music] you

Channel: HouzzTV

Views: 1,310,945

Rating: 4.9473701 out of 5

Keywords: scottsdale, arizona, 14 kids, adopted, phoenix, heart and lung, India, Korea, Haiti, remodel, houzz, our houzz series, Bob Atherton, Chris Atherton, adopting, children's hospital, amazing, inspiring, happy, awesome, giving, loving, generosity, giving back, heart, lung, transplant, 40 years, produced by Rick Spence, ethiopia, christmas, Becca Atherton, Dana Atherton, Regan Atherton, found on side of the road, orphanage, monks, houzz tv, home remodeling, design, Jenny Slingerland, heart warming, family

Id: 01zGCw_kEoI

Length: 13min 7sec (787 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 28 2017