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By profession Thomas Barnett is a project manager for a large mechanical contractor in Las Vegas, Nevada, but his wife and twelve children (five of their own and seven adopted) have been the focus of his personal life. His children range in age from six years old to forty-six years old. In 1985 Thomas and his wife Irene became licensed as foster parents, and for eighteen years worked with FAS (Fetal Alcohol Syndrome) and FDE (Fetal Drug Effect) children, adopting seven with these handicaps. In 1990 his wife Irene was selected as Foster Mother of the Year for her work with these children, and in 1994 was chosen to represent the State of Nevada at the National Foster Parenting Convention in San Francisco. During the ensuing years Thomas and Irene provided love and comfort for more than forty foster children until retiring in September 2004 to spend more time with their adopted children.
Thomas has always had a passion for writing. In 1993 he had two technical articles published in Circuit Cellar Inc., The Computer Applications Journal: The Control Power of Embeded Forth, and Gasoline Engine Chemistry. In 1996 two of his poems, When First I Saw Your Soft Brown Eyes, and When I Speak of Love were published on the Romance Writers of America web site. His first novel, Melanie, was published in 2004 by iUniverse. He is now working on a western trilogy that will be ready for publication sometime late in 2007.
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