For an 11-year-old boy from Cincinnati, Ohio, who was officially adopted by his stepdad into their forever family, this special day meant the world to him.
“I’d been waiting for it for a long time,” Connor Julian told The Epoch Times. “When the judge said I was officially adopted, I burst into tears because I was just so happy and relieved that it happened.”
(Courtesy of Derek Julian)
There is no doubt that the preteen shares a great bond with his adoptive father, Derek Julian, 43, but the story of how they became a family is a touching one.
Derek met his wife, Sarah, now 34, for the first time 14 years ago when he was working at a college and she was enrolling in a medical program. Soon, they became friends and eventually dated for a period of time. Although they separated, the two of them continued to remain friends over the years….