Terry Cunningham is a nontraditional mother of sorts.

She grew up in a family of eight children. Her husband, Pat, grew up in a family of 10 kids. As you might imagine, she’s always wanted to have children.

But a year after she married Pat in 1984, she still hadn’t gotten pregnant. That’s when she found out she was unable to have children biologically.

The couple, who moved to their current residence at a farm in Twin Lakes 17 years ago, turned toward adoption.

In 1987, they adopted their son, Matthew, who is now 24, and in 1992, they adopted their daughter, Shinead, now 17.

Matthew was almost 2 when he was adopted, and Shinead was 5 1/2 months. Both were born in Korea.

Matthew now works at Naeve Hospital in Albert Lea, and Shinead is a student at Glenville-Emmons High School.

“Being able to love children I didn’t give birth to was never a problem,” Terry said.

After all, she’s a woman who loves children — she’s provided child care now for 30 years and has also been a foster parent.

“I just want people to know it’s very much natural when you adopt,” she said. “A lot of people wonder, ‘Would you love them the same as if they were birth children?’ To me there is no difference — none. It’s just that we picked them up at the airport instead of the delivery room.”

Recently, Terry and Pat adopted three more children they had been foster parents for.

The first, Dylon, 6, came to them as a foster child when he was 18 months old. He was adopted a year ago in July.

Aahrailyah, 6, and Camren, 4, had been with the family for quite a while as foster children, she said, when they were finally adopted Dec. 31.

They are all now a permanent part of the Cunningham family.

“It’s really been a wonderful experience,” she said. “I never thought we’d adopt anymore kids.”

Though the Cunningham household is a busy one — with up to as many as 10 day care children in the house along with the other children — a special love is felt as soon as you walk through the doors of the house.

“I feel so grateful,” Terry said. “I feel like I have really been blessed, especially if you don’t know if you’re going to be able to do it or not.”

As she reflected upon her role as a mother, she said being a mother is one of the best things she could ever do.

“It’s not a job; it’s a real blessing,” she said. “You get so much out of it.”

She noted she wants people who can’t have their own biological to know if they really want to be a family with children, there are children out there to adopt.

“Don’t let anything stop them from doing it,” she said. “You go through a lot, but if you really want to have children, they’re out there.”

Daughter Shinead, who has grown up surrounded by children her entire life, said she used to not want to ever go into day care. But now she’s considering it, too.

She said she loves her mother’s optimism, her loving personality and her caring attitude toward everyone. She wants to adopt someday, too.