When a couple gets married, often times, the next thing on their mind is whether or not to start a family. For Mandi Palmer and her husband Tyler, it wasn’t a matter of if they should start a family, but how fast they could build their family. The happy couple was anxious to start a family.

Mandi and Tyler met before Tyler left for his second deployment to Afghanistan. The distance between the pair only strengthened their love and Tyler proposed shortly after returning from his nine months of being away from Mandi serving the country. The couple wed just a few weeks later and immediately started trying to start a family.

Unfortunately, Mandi couldn’t get pregnant. She had struggled with Crohn’s disease for years, and even had to have her stomach rebuilt. She has to have monthly infusions to keep the disease under control, and she still doesn’t properly absorb all the nutrients her body needs.

Tyler battled his own set of health issues too. After returning from Afghanistan, he suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and had to have treatment from the VA hospital to make sense of his life now that he was back home and away from the war.

The couple was devastated that they wouldn’t be able to start a family, but soon decided to search for other means to begin the family that they so badly wanted. They decided to become foster parents after hearing about a need in their town of Perrysburg, Ohio.

After completing lots of classes and several home inspections, the couple was finally approved to be foster parents. It would only be a few short days later that they would get the call to action that would change their lives.

They received a phone call to foster an eight-day old baby named Hunter. The couple quickly went and bought a few necessities, like diapers and a car seat, and hurried to bring Hunter home. The couple fell in love with the infant, who Mandi refers to as their “medicine” because he has given them a reason to live through all of their health struggles.

All of the frustration and heartache would be worth it though, because Hunter would eventually become their son for good. Just days before Christmas the couple officially adopted Hunter as their own, but what shocked them was what Hunter had to say about the adoption.

The family was in the courtroom and the judge had just read the official adoption decree when little Hunter, just 16-months-old, blurted out “Dad” as he excitedly clapped his little hands. Everyone in the courtroom couldn’t help but be teary eyed at the excitement the little guy had for what had just happened.

The timing of the one word couldn’t have been more perfect for a day that was already amazing.