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The Thanksgiving table for some Montgomery County couples will be more crowded Thursday as they celebrate love, togetherness and the joy of family.

Marco Beltran, 38, and John Ward, 43, have a full house, as friends and family help celebrate their adoption of Anthony, 15 months.

"We're completely ecstatic. We're super excited, I guess. I guess a sense of completeness is going to happen, even though Anthony has been with us since he was three days old," said Beltran. "The family is going to be complete. We're going to be recognized as a family and I think that's what we're excited about."

On Friday, they became an official family as county judges finalized the adoptions of nearly two dozen children in the county foster care system— giving families something special to celebrate on Thanksgiving.

The couple had talked about becoming dads, but did not know how they were going to do that or what would happen, Beltran said. They read an advertisement seeking Montgomery County residents who wanted to be foster parents about four years ago and took an introductory class.

"We knew after going through the class that we wanted to be foster-to-adopt," said Beltran. "A lot of people would ask us why would get involved in the foster care system and John and I decided that we would only adopt a child through the foster system because there are so many kids in the foster care system that need a home."

Beltran and Ward originally sought an older child and provided emergency care several times, Beltran said. Then they received a phone call that a safe haven baby had been left at a hospital and Beltran drove straight to Target to buy a car seat.

"I think the idea of just waiting and trying to find the match," is stressful, said Beltran. "You're called constantly: ‘There's a kid, do you want to do emergency care?'"

The new father would not change a minute of his experience or his new son, who in recent months has learned to walk and say "Daddy" and "Papa."

"We fell in love with him as soon as we saw him," said Beltran. "He's just the most incredible beautiful child in the world."

Nine-year-old twins Andrew and Cheyenne Richmond of Silver Spring celebrated their baptism Sunday at the Lutheran Church of St. Andrew. They also celebrated a new last name.

"Andrew and Cheyenne have been the best thing that has ever happened to us," said Jessica Richmond, 27, who adopted the children with her husband, Tim, 38. "They're just so full of love and they're just so much fun to be around."

She and her husband read about foster care and felt they had the ability to help, she said. They signed up for training and received a call the day after receiving certification, she said. Andrew and Cheyenne moved in in January 2008.

"Even if it didn't work out so we were able to adopt them, we would have been grateful for the time we had with them," said Jessica Richmond. "I hope that other people can see that it's not just about giving something to the kids — you get a lot in return."

The twins have two teenage siblings who live with maternal aunts, who helped them celebrate this week, said Richmond, who said she and her husband have been "blessed" by new relationships with other foster families and the twins' relatives, who sought stability for the children.

On Thursday, as she drove the twins to school, Andrew told her "Mom, just think, tomorrow you'll be official."

More children than ever need foster care, according to Montgomery County officials. To learn more about how to become a foster parent, call 240-777-1664, or e-mail Linda Gore at LINDA.GORE@montgomerycountymd.gov. An informational meeting is scheduled 7:30 to 9 p.m. Dec. 8 at the Department of Health and Human Services, 401 Hungerford Drive, Rockville, MD 20850. The meeting is in the green room on the first floor.