The Mohney Family

Family Name: Mohney 
(Mow-Nay)

Where you live: Portland, Oregon

# of children: 1/2 dozen

Telephone Contact: (please send us your telephone contact number so we may reach out to you with any questions we may have)

503-753-2429
503-753-2237

Are you a single parent, married, or in a relationship? Married since 3/3/96

What is a typical day like in your household? Feel free to be detailed-the more the merrier…we like to hear about the fun chaos~

Family type-we know you are all a loving family but if you can let us know the dynamics and breakdown of your household that would be great-I.e.: Are you a blended family (his her ours)?, Brady Bunch type family (his and hers)? Children-Adopted/natural? Let us know & share with us the details!
We have three biological kids and three adopted thru US Social Care System.  First we had two biological sons, then adopted a 1 year old mentally retarded daughter (now 5 years old,) then when we were deciding to either have fertility treatments again or adopt again we did both just to see which would happen first...both happened on the same exact day.  We went from 3 to 6 kids in a month!  It was the hardest year of our lives for all of us.   



Names, and ages of yourselves and children?
James Joesph Mohney-36, Ali Bond-Smith-31, Nathan James Mohney-13, Brenden Gaberiel Mohney-9, Sadie Aliza Mohney-7, Leecy Bella Mohney-5, Jamey Sabrina Mohney-4, Oni Matilda Mohney-1.

Kid #1
Name:Nathan  
Sex (M or F):M
Age: 13
Adopted or Biological: Biological
Birth country: (If applicable)
Hobbies/Interests? All the typical teen stuff; friends, MP3, iPod, YouTube, Wii, PS3, texting, ect.  Nathan is a nice boy going through a teen thing.  He out eats all his siblings combined, he's already taller than me, he wears a bigger shoe then his dad!  Nathan wouldn't want his friends to know but when we did emergency foster care for almost a decade he was the first to really make the incoming kids feel comfortable.  He held one little girl till 11:00pm on a school night after she'd witnessed her parents beat her older brothers till they were hospitalized.  The little girl didn't trust James or I but she clung to Nathan's arms for hours quietly crying. 

Kid #2

Name:Brenden 
Sex (M or F):M
Age: 9
Adopted or Biological: Biological
Birth country: (If applicable)
Hobbies/Interests? Brenden is into anything messy.  He calls himself an explorer, artist, scientist and creator.  I call him a collector or hoarder.  He is a messy kid, but he's also very talented and intense.  He's a interesting kid!

Kid #3 

Name:Sadie 
Sex (M or F):F
Age: 7
Adopted or Biological: Adopted
Birth country: (If applicable)
Hobbies/Interests? Sadie is the kind of kid who is good at everything.  She's athletic, academic and has tons of friends.  She holds herself to a very high level perfectionlism and it causes a lot of drama when she doesn't get it all just right. 

Kid #4 

Name:Leecy 
Sex (M or F):F
Age: 5
Adopted or Biological: Adopted
Birth country: (If applicable)
Hobbies/Interests?



Despite all this I'd LOVE for America to see her in action.  Decide for themselves if special needs adoption could be something they can handle or would want to.  I know that the chaos she causes would in many ways win her fans!  Considering James parents stopped speaking to us because we chose to "take on other peoples damaged baby" we could really use the support!  I'm aware some people will be like his parents and full of critisms too, but that would just fuel us to keep going the best we can.   

Kid #5 

Name:Jamey 
Sex (M or F):F
Age: 4
Adopted or Biological: Adopted
Birth country: (If applicable)
Hobbies/Interests?



Name:Oni (pronounced like Bonnie with no "B") 
Sex (M or F):F
Age: 1
Adopted or Biological: Biological
Birth country: (If applicable)
Hobbies/Interests? Oni is into everything the older kids are.  She's the perfect baby of 6.  She expects them to spoil her and they do!  She is so sweet and silly.  She makes fans where ever she goes! 

Occupations in the household? James owns Smith Building Services, a commercial maintenance company.  His specialty is vacant building turnovers and special needs safety modifications. 
Ali is a volunteer national special needs adoption support facilitator and has a hobby teaching unique cuisine instruction at Portland's Whole Foods.  Ali also does some of the office work for James business on top of her jobs and raising 6 special or extra needs kids.   

Do all the children live at home? If not, who lives at home currently? How far are those living away from home? And lastly, how often are you together?
 Yes, all live at home still and one or some may always have to live at home or in a group home.  James and Ali's hope is to show what these "retarded" kids grow up to be, members in the community and what they are like while little.  Sweet and perpetually innocent they often become the forgotten, homeless and drug addicted adults seen on the sides of highways or in jails.  Because the kids are absolutely adorable and fun to watch people will begin to see developmental disabilities and mood disorders in a new conscience.

What is it like in the area in which you live? The neighborhood/community? Is it a city, farm, beach? Do you live in a house? Apartment?  We live in a busy city suburb.  We have all the access to the popular metro attractions but still close to farms, Mt. Hood national forest, the beach, Multnomah Falls, sun and snow.

What are some of the shared hobbies and interests in the family or individually?  Because our kids are aged toddler to teen finding something they all like can be difficult!  We manage with children's museums, zoo, outdoor activities and we can all play games together too.  The older kids with Dad on the Wii and the younger kids with Mom doing Lucky Ducks or Candy Land.  All the kids take turns helping Mom cook or go to work with Dad when clients aren't expected to be there. 

What does your daily routine entail with your kids? Feel free to be specific, from sun up to bed time. We want to know the typical day in the life of your family. James is blessed to be home more than most dads.  Infact on the days he does have to work 8 hours the kids act like he's been gone forever!  So  we both get the older kids up in the morning for school.  After we get them off we always have one quiet cup of coffee together then get our little ones up to feed.  After they are in front of a cartoon we sneak off to our home office to figure out what work we are up to for the day.  We get errands or doctors appointments started then chores.  I get little done (housework, office work, volunteering) while breaking up tantrums between my three youngest and coming up with new activities and play dates for them.  I get them done with lunch and down for a nap and have a whole 10 minutes to myself before big kids come home from school needing snacks and homework help.  The little kids get up and we all go play somewhere; with friends (on any given day I have about 10 kids at our house,) we take the dogs for a walk, we go to the park, library or a community activity.  Home in time to see dad and start dinner, it's chore time!  We eat during a very loud meal and all call "not it" for dinner dishes.  We play or fight some more then have a bedtime snack.  I always serve something sugary or fattening.  No matter what kind of day it's been I have to know that it ends on a nice note.  The whole family gathered and grateful for one another.  The way I've written out my day makes it sound simple but what I didn't write is all the stuff that happens in between or during each event.  The baby playing in the cat box, Leecy forgetting where to go to the bathroom at so she goes in her room, Jamey tattling on everyone about everything, James being messier then all the kids combined!  Ali letting a few cuss words slip as her frusteration reaches it's max.  The mailman waking up the baby, getting a call to the principles office on Nathan or Brenden's behalf, Sadie have a huge yelling sobbing meltdown.  Life just happens in between all I have to do everyday and me....I think I'm meant for more than being a fat bored housewife, but no time to explore the things I really love to do like write, do public events speeches for good causes, read anything without a fairy princess in it, stregnth training.  I do nothing I really enjoy except hugging each one of these kids of mine and getting 2 minutes to snuggle my husband. 

Did you always know you were going to have a large family?Yes, well kinda.  We thought "large" was 4 kids.  We never suspected we'd have a 1/2 dozen.  Adjusting has been hard.  Our pans still don't hold enough to cook for all of us at once.  I often have to make 2 or 3 batches.  It was a huge HUGE expense at the beginning of a recession while owning a business dependant on the housing market. 

And any fun info about your family. The more info the merrier! We love hearing what makes you special!
We are one interesting large family!  With half our kids being adopted and half being biological you'd think we wouldn't have one common thread between us, but one by one we have each been diagnosed with a form of depression.  For some it's a genetic type (like Chevy Chase's) for some it's bipolar type (like Carrie Fisher's) but the bottom line is all 8 of us have this very misunderstood diagnoses.  The public seems to think depression is something you catch when you get too sad, they don't know it's a physical malody in the brain provable by brain scans of the hypocampus.  Here's the controversal part:  we have our kids as young as four years old on an anti-depressant.  I can just hear the screams from Tom Cruise now, but for our family it feels like the right decision.  Our mission is to introduce America to the reality of depression, to be the face that says it's nothing to be ashamed of and life can be good.  So many people turn to rage, alcohol, gambling to feel feelings again if only they could recognize that they aren't just lazy jerks that it isn't just in their head.  I don't want to sound like a Cymbalta or Prozac commercial but a family show based on my crazy happy kids wouldn't be all sadness and tantrums nor would it be all drugged out sunshine, it would be a realistic view of the challenges and triumps, medication changes, daily life, the really good and really bad and just the really real of it.  You have the power to empower the hundreds of thousands suffering with depression.  To give them hope.  I think fans would watch for the controversy, the couragousness and soon just because they loved the kids.  They'll see Mom learning to grow her self esteem by doing a bunch of exciting things that make her nervous or scared (sky diving, acting/comedy class, losing weight, cosmetic surgeries, teaching unique cuisine cooking classes, public speaking events to inspire others to seize their life's dreams, writing, ect.)  They'll watch Dad gain confidence and learn to parent extra needs kids more effectively.  They'll be with the kids as they grow and develop into effective (cute) humans.  This is a good family full of compassion and enthusiasm.  A true opportunity for the world to see depression as it really, the pharmasutical companies to bring awareness to their life altering medications, and a chance to help hundreds of thousands change their lives for the better! 

 One interesting fact is that all six kids have birthdays all within the same 6 weeks.  6 birthdays in 2 months is a ton of cake!  I get asked all the time if it was planned but when half are adopted and half are biological how could we have made it so two kids a week have a birthday in October?