Payson couple enjoys raising 6 adopted kids

All in all, they're not much different than most American teenagers. The girls don't miss "The Tyra Banks Show." They love to shop, dance and listen to hip-hop music. The boys like (and the girls, too) basketball and hanging out with friends.

Being black in a predominantly white community hasn't been an issue, though the Whatcott kids say some of their schoolmates give them a hard time for not being "black enough," sometimes being called "white wash."

"Most kids at school are cool with us. Sometimes some stupid kids will say something, but we put them in their place," said Briana, the unmistakable leader of her siblings who used to brush their teeth when they first arrived in Utah.

As a biracial family, the Whatcotts say they haven't encountered any prejudice, though strangers have asked them if they run a day care or have mistaken the family for a church group with Wes Whatcott as the pastor.

"It's a normal family. It really doesn't matter what we look like. We help each other. We love each other," Sandra Whatcott said.

Wes and Sandra Whatcott never intended to a rear a second family after their five biological children left home. They were content to be grandparents, perhaps travel — Sandra has always wanted to visit Alaska, while Wes has his eye on Israel. And those trips might still come as their kids will all be out of high school within three years. But for now, they're parents again.

"There is never a dull moment in this house. I wish sometimes there was a dull moment," Wes Whatcott said.

"You love it," Briana responded.

Sandra Whatcott directs a visitor to a photo of herself and her husband on their wedding day 47 years ago this past August. "We didn't have any idea what our lives would be like," she said.

For many years they helped other couples adopt children from around the world. They ran West Sands Adoptions out of a small office in their Provo home. They specialized in international adoptions, placing abandoned and parentless children from China, Russia, India and Ethiopia, to name a few.

Bringing children into their own home was far from their minds until a photo of two malnourished Ethiopian youngsters caught their eye. Another family adopted those children, but a fire was kindled. Wes and Sandra Whatcott came to the conclusion — independent of each other — that they needed to adopt .

At first, the couple figured they could handle two. Then they heard about another and another and another child who needed a home. Before long they were up to six — five from Ethiopia, including two sets of siblings, and one from India.

"We couldn't get by without one of them. We just have to have all of them. They're each other's best friends," Sandra said.