For years, the Gallaghers wanted to adopt an older child.

"We had always said throughout our marriage that once we were older, we wanted to adopt a teenager," Dawn Gallagher said. "To give the opportunity to a teenager that my husband never had."

  • Heart Gallery of Pinellas and Pasco connects families with foster kids
  • Gallagher family met Alexis and Jennifer through Heart Gallery
  • Organization marking 10-year anniversary this week

Dawn's husband, Scott, had aged out of the foster care system when he turned 18. Dawn said he never had a chance to have a family and they wanted to give that opportunity to a teen child in the foster care system.

"We were just looking for an older, just one child," Dawn said.

The Gallaghers had already raised their own children and adopted three young girls. They found Alexis and Jennifer's profile on the Heart Gallery of Pinellas and Pasco and knew they wanted to meet both girls.

"They looked just like us," Dawn said. "When we saw them and their personalities in their video, they looked just like us, we had to know more."

The girls were nervous. Alexis and Jessica had been in and out of foster homes for the past 12 years. They wanted a forever family, but they were cautious.

"It's just the feeling of meeting somebody new," 12-year-old Alexis said.

"Like your potential family, you know," her 16-year-old sister Jessica continued. "You don't know anything about them besides this is probably going to be your new family."

The sisters met the Gallaghers and all their children -- biological and adopted. They clicked and the sisters knew this was it.

"We were meant to be here," Jessica said. "This was meant to happen to us. I actually feel like I was supposed to be in this family, more than my biological family."

Though the couple original wanted to adopt one child, once they met the girls, they couldn't imagine not bringing both into their lives.

"Alexis became the icing on the cake," Dawn said.

The sisters are now forever weaved into the family's web. The Gallaghers officially adopted Alexis and Jessica in October of 2015.

"They have a family to grow old with," Dawn said. "They have sisters to be with throughout their whole lives, to have nieces and nephews. They have family."

That family might still be growing.

"Everybody took a vote, and they said it's time for dad to have a son," Dawn said.

The Gallaghers will be the featured family for the Heart Gallery of Pinellas and Pasco's Fiesta on the Field event Thursday evening. This year's gala honors the organization's 10-year anniversary.