Growing a family takes time, well, most of the time! Life wouldn’t be “life” without its fair share of surprises, happy accidents, and the like.The journey of having a kid is always full of these surprises, but for one couple, it seems like those surprises just kept multiplying!Calena and BJ Durel are from Cincinnati and have one of the wildest stories around!




The couple was in the works of trying to have a child and were struggling through the trial of infertility. Unfortunately, this is an all-too-common problem, with 15% of couples struggling to have children.Thankfully, technology has seriously advanced and many couples are able to overcome the struggle together. For Calena and BJ, that reality was about to come true!

The Durels had been struggling to have kids for over 5 years and had officially decided to adopt.

In 2016, the couple was registering to become foster parents when they were asked to watch two little girls for an afternoon. Their foster parents were going out and needed a break, so the Durels were happy to oblige! Once they met the two girls, however, the mutual love was immediate.

Aubree and Mariah stepped foot into the Durels house and things were forever changed.

“I took a photo of them that day because it just felt like we were supposed to be with them,” Calena told Good Morning America. “I sent the picture to my mom and told her, ‘I can’t imagine these girls not being in our home. There’s just something about them.’”

Although the afternoon soon ended, the couple never forgot about the girls. Taking them to and from school occasionally was one of the ways they were able to stay connected! Then, two whole years later, they got a call.

The Durels were asked if they were interested in adopting Aubree and Mariah.

After agreeing, the couple was ecstatic! Although their struggle with infertility was heartbreaking, they now had two girls in their lives. Everything was working out in the most beautiful way… until one-morning Calena woke up with a severe stomach ache and nausea.

At first, the couple thought it was nerves as they were coming up to the adoption.
“We said, ‘Absolutely,’” Durel recalled. “A few weeks later, I started feeling sick and I thought it was the nerves over whether or not we’d get to adopt them.” – GMA

After a few weeks, however, things weren’t changing. A quick test later and it was confirmed – the Durels were pregnant weeks before adopting two beautiful girls of their own! After 8 years of fertility troubles, their dreams of having a baby and adopting were all coming true at once!

Only, that wasn’t the only surprise that awaited them.

When Calena went in for her ultrasound, she learned something that rocked them; they were having twins! A planned family of four was about to get two new additions! Some might call it a miracle and others might call it a beautiful surprise. Regardless, the entire family was more than happy to have tripled in size overnight!

“Aubree is a first time big sister so she is over the moon about that, and it’s a whole new situation for Mariah,” the mom said. “She gets to be a big sister and do all of the fun things because she was kind of a caregiver before for Aubree.”

Life is never boring or quiet, and it doesn’t look like the Durels house is going to be either!

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