Salina ? A couple of years ago, Jerry Glover and Cindy Cox started talking about adopting a baby.

“We spent about a year researching it and thinking about it,” Cindy said.

In that process, the couple decided to adopt from outside the United States and also settled on either twins or siblings who were close in age.

Living in rural southeast Saline County, in an old farmhouse within walking distance of the Land Institute, where both work, the future parents thought their family’s new addition ought to have a playmate nearby.

One year ago, they started the paperwork, including home visits from the adoption agency, background checks and so forth, to adopt two children from Ethiopia.

“They called us on September 12,” Cox said. “They told us, ‘We have a unique situation. We see you’re open to twins.'”

Then came the rest: “We have triplets.”

“We decided on the spot,” Glover said, as the three babies crawled around on the floor of the now-crowded living room.

Triple blessing

They were born last June in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa.

There’s Tsega, who is a fraternal twin to, and a little larger than, his identical twin brothers Sira and Bereket.

Tsega and Sira’s names are both shortened versions of their given names, Cox said. The original names are Yeabtsega and Yeabsira, meaning “God’s grace” and “God’s work” respectively. Bereket means “Blessing.”

Tsega, as the fraternal twin, “is really different from the other two,” Cox said. “He was kind of a high-needs baby at first, and he’s the most active one. I call him ‘Mr. Personality, with the million-dollar smile.'”

Bereket and Sira, she said, “I describe as being like honey – very sweet.”

Bereket likes to explore new things, she said. Glover describes him as “very curious.”

“He’s always the first of the twins to reach a new development milestone, such as crawling,” Cox said. “Sira’s the one who sits back and watches,” Glover said.

They’ve caused quite a sensation in public, with people asking both about what it’s like to have triplets and – noting the obvious differences between the parents and the babies – where they’re from.

Shorter wait

They decided to adopt from Ethiopia for a number of reasons. In domestic adoptions, Cox said, the birth mother chooses the new parents.

“It’s unpredictable, who knows how long that could be?” she said. But with many foreign countries, once approved, would-be parents are on a first-come, first-served waiting list – and the waiting period is fairly established.

In some countries, such as China or Russia, that wait has grown to two years or more, Cox said, while six months is typical for Ethiopia.

Besides that, she had some familiarity with Africa, having served as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Central African Republic.

“It’s all gone really smoothly. I think we were as prepared as we could be,” Glover said. “It’s really no different than having one baby – there’s just more of it.”

Drawing a crowd

There are differences. Think of the strangers who will ask about a single baby at the grocery store and then multiple that times three.

“We do draw a crowd where ever we go,” he said.

But, it has its advantages, Glover said.

“If you have three babies, people help you out, holding open doors, things like that,” he said. “People are really nice, but it’s hard to get things done.”

Especially at first, it was obvious from a distance that something unusual was going on. The couple had a “huge stroller” designed to carry all three babies one behind the other. It’s since been replaced by one built for twins and a single.

“People come up and get really excited, and gushy,” Cox said. “We’ve had people take pictures of us.”

And with the crowds come questions. A common question is where the children are from, and who are the parents.

“My response is we’re from Salina,” Glover said, stressing that he’s not really trying to be confrontational, and that he understands it’s a natural question. “I don’t want the boys to feel like they’re not fully a part of this family or this community.”

Land of their birth

But the adoptive parents also know their three boys have a native homeland, and even if they don’t remember it now, they’re going to learn about it as they grow up.

“As they grow, we’ll tell them about it,” Glover said.

There are a few books about Ethiopia on the bookshelf in the living room, but they also brought something more personal back with the boys.

Glover holds a “life book” bound with duct tape. It includes pictures of the triplets’ mother, the fact that she earned just a few dollars a month, photos of the shack where she lived and of the three boys as newborns, and pictures of her with Glover and Cox.

In case the boys someday wonder why their mother gave them up, that’s explained too – she simply couldn’t afford to raise them.

Some pages have short handwritten notes from workers at the adoption agency in Ethiopia, and there’s a short history of Ethiopia.

“We hope they’ll keep that connection,” Cox said.

The family also has met with others who have adopted children from Ethiopia, meeting sometimes at an Ethiopian restaurant in Kansas City. And they’re planning a summer trip to Minnesota where hundreds of families who have adopted children from there will gather.