Cooley Family: He was 25 and she was 21 with three daughters. Somehow they made their way to each other and became family.

Being a blended family is tough work. You don't just have to figure out how to make life inside your home work, but figuring out how to parent together is not for the faint of heart.

There were times when she watched him love on and parent another’s child as his own. She must have felt a love so deep she couldn’t imagine how it contained itself inside her heart.

Every time her children kissed and told him they loved him, he must have wondered how he ever lived his life without them.

They made it work — in all the ways it was chopped, minced and blended. They made it work.