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CHARLOTTE – 22 Charlotte-area families made their way into the national spotlight for adopting more than 40 children from a Liberian orphanage. A Charlotte couple who decided to take in a pair of teenage boys inspired 21 other families in the area to follow in their footsteps.

Friday, the families’ stories were featured on Oprah.

“I don’t think that every family is meant to adopt children, but I would love to challenge every family to have a bigger picture,” adoptive parent Lysa TerKeurst said.

Two months after meeting the orphans on a boy’s choir tour, TerKeurst and her husband adopted Mark and Jackson into their family.

And their decision to adopt sparked something in the community when last year 22 families in Charlotte adopted 44 children from the same orphanage.

“When we heard about the story of the boys’ choir and heard that there were still people that needed adopted, we knew that we could do that,” adoptive parent Angel Rutledge said.

In September of 2007, Rutledge took in then six-year-old Angelyn and five-year-old Henry.

“It seems like this is the way life was always meant to be,” Rutledge said. “It’s difficult for me to think about trying to separate the American life from my Liberian one.”

Rutledge now helps coordinate adoptions for other families around the country.