Lauren and Tom Spiglanin from Rancho Palos Verdes, California, USA, who adopted Arianna Petrosyan, an infant from Armenia in 2009, recently adopted her 16-year-old brother, Erik, too.

Now, nearly eight years later, they say their family is complete, according to Daily Breeze.

The process of adopting Erik began when his grandmother died in late 2013. She had been caring for Erik since his mother died shortly after she gave birth to Arianna.

Arianna was born premature and, because of complications, with a brain injury that left her with a condition similar to cerebral palsy.

Because Erik is a teenager and was not living in an orphanage, new hurdles had to be overcome that the Spiglanins did not face when they had adopted Arianna. 

Most of the attorneys they contacted in the US to help facilitate the international adoption turned them away.

Finally, an attorney in Georgia said she could help them.

But, later, this attorney broke the news to them that she was not approved to facilitate the adoption in Armenia.

Lauren Spiglanin decided to take matters into her own hands. She sent an email to the Armenian minister of justice. In it, she told the minister that every day since they adopted Arianna she had thought of Erik, and that every single day it weighed on her.

Within hours of that email, the minister gave a special approval for the Spiglanins to adopt Erik.

After a three-year respective process, Erik obtained a visa from the embassy in Armenia, and the Spiglanins arrived back home on February 9, nearly three weeks after they had left for Armenia.