DES MOINES, Iowa  —  This moment was a long time coming for the Dunker family and their two adopted sons, Kevin and Jordith. The two boys arrived at the Des Moines airport on Saturday, welcomed by their new sister, grandparents, and other extended family.

The twin 13-year-olds came from Colombia and hardly speak English.  They were adopted through the Kidsave program, a non-profit that matches prospective parents with older children who struggle to find adoptive families.

“It’s kind of like a cultural exchange. They stay here for a month, and then every weekend we bring in potential adoptive parents. They make connections and it works really well. That’s the beauty of this program, is once you meet these children you realize they’re just children that need a home. They melt your heart” said John Erikson, coordinator for Kidsave Iowa.

The Dunkers were introduced to Kevin and Jordith last summer and have been working on adopting them ever since.

“For eight or nine months we’ve been going through paperwork after paperwork after paperwork, getting approvals, trying to explain to them over Skype that, ‘yeah we’re coming, but we’re trying to get it all lined up,’ so this was the culmination of that whole process,” said father Tyler Dunker

The Dunkers traveled to Colombia three weeks ago to pick up the boys and bring them back to their new home.

“We’ve got doctor’s appointments, school appointments, they’re going to start school in Waukee in a week, and they’re excited and a little bit nervous about that, but I think they’re going to do great,” said Tyler.

For the boys, having the entire family there to welcome them was a big surprise, and they couldn’t be more excited.

“I was very happy because they have always been with us and that we have a new family…we thought it was only going to be our sister!” said Jordith.

Kidsave Iowa is looking for host families this summer, and participants to not have to adopt in order to host. For more information, visit kidsave.org.