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Aug 24, 2001

"Trials, temptations, disappointments -- all these are helps instead of hindrances, if one uses them rightly. They not only test the fibre of a character, but strengthen it. Every conquered temptation represents a new fund of moral energy. Every trial endured and weathered in the right spirit makes a soul nobler and stronger than it was before." --James Buckham

Adam Cornell had every excuse to fail. Abandoned three times by his birth mother, he lived in seven different foster homes and had his heart broken by two failed adoptions. During his senior year at Woodinville High School, his adoptive father committed suicide. Failure, however, isn't in Cornell's vocabulary. A foster-child survivor, former Peace Corps volunteer and law-school graduate tells other foster children that if he can make it, they can, too.