 "Photo: N/A")
When asked about the family motto, Jamie Blevens just laughs.
Jamie’s son Dustin, 29, coined the phrase “Blevens, Enough Said” when he was in high school. Dustin said he started it when he had the phrase written on the back of his letterman jacket. His sisters Jessica, 21, and Nichole, 19, kept up the tradition by putting the motto on the backs of their jackets. His sisters Katelyn and Kimberly, both 17, want to get it on their jackets as well.
When Jamie and Dean Blevens were married eight years ago, they had five children between them. After wanting one more baby, the couple decided to try fostering to see if they were ready to handle the joys of parenthood and newborn babies, diapers and late-night feedings.
Their first foster child was DJ, 7. He was five months old when they got him. Jamie and Dean said they instantly feel in love with him and knew he was the baby they wanted.
In California, it takes two years for adoption from the foster-care system to be possible. The Blevenses had to wait. During those two years, they fostered more children.
“We would have 18 kids in the house at one time,” Jamie said. “We’ve probably fostered close to 200 children.”
Shortly after DJ arrived, three brothers named Joseph, 10, Devon, 8, and Nathan, 7, arrived. They remained at the Blevens’ home, never being taken back to their biological family.
When two years had passed, the Blevenses were given the choice to adopt DJ or have social services find him a home. They chose to adopt him and the three brothers. Jamie said she could not see them living anywhere else but with her. They were family.
The Blevens then adopted Austin, 5, and Alexis, 3. Dean adopted Jamie’s four girls from her previous marriage, and by 2006 they all took the Blevens last name.“That’s my daughter in there,” Jamie said, referring to Alexis.
Jamie said the six adopted children all know they were adopted, even if they do not fully grasp what it means. Their past is not kept secret; Jamie hung up pictures from the days when she and Dean were officially given custody of the children.
To the Blevenses, it does not matter if a child is adopted or biologically related; every one of the children is loved the same. They are family, enough said.
