A Balancing Act... vBy Linda Wuebben Balancing a family of nine children, homeschooling all nine children and working two part-time jobs keeps Katie Fargo hopping but it’s a life she loves. “I knew at a very young age I wanted to be a mom of many,” Fargo said with a laugh. And this Gayville native is definitely a mom of many. Fargo has eight children by birth with her husband who is a native Eskimo. The couple met in Alaska while Fargo, fresh out of college with a degree in education from Mount Marty, decided to take a position as a preschool teacher in Alaska. She visited an Alaskan-sponsored booth at a Sioux Falls Job Fair looking for teachers. She soon learned accepting the position would mean she would have to give up running water in her house if she moved there. “The school district included twelve villages and as soon as I arrived I knew I had made the right decision,” Fargo said. “The people were so very friendly, loving and accepting and soon I fell in love with the area. I knew I could live without running water in my house.” She made many friends she still keeps in contact with. It was there she met her husband and they came back to Gayville to marry and live. As time went along, Fargo’s husband’s sister became pregnant while still a high school student. 8vHERVOICEvMAY/JUNE 2018 Her sister-in-law knew from the beginning she was not ready to be a mom and early on asked her brother and wife if they would consider adopting. It was an easy decision for Fargo and her husband to agree to adopt the baby who would fit right in with their growing family. “Our daughter’s bio-mom, as we call her, just contacted me last week and asked if she knew she was adopted and I told her we are very open about it,” Fargo said. “We have never sat her down and said, ‘You’re adopted,’ but we talk about it all the time. All our children tell me they forget she didn’t grow in my belly.” Fargo flew to Alaska when the baby was born and brought her home on an airplane when she was three days old. Now she is a nine-yearold, middle-of-the-pack sibling, her oldest brother being 17 years old, looking to the future, and her youngest brother just four-years old, learning about life. Since it was a family adoption, it was an easy process. The bio mother and father signed release papers, the Fargos signed papers and the tribe Fargo’s husband is a member of needed to approve the adoption also. Through the Internet and Facebook, Fargo keeps in close contact with her bio-daughter’s extended family as well as her husband’s family. The miles seem to slip away. Relatives are able to see photos which Fargo posts to Facebook and they keep in touch by sending her