Chuck Swaggerty and Jason Morgan may not be a typical Iowa family, if there is such a thing, but they feel more satisfied with their lives.

In an interview with Bret Hayworth of the Sioux City Journal, the men, who were plaintiffs in the case before the Iowa Supreme Court that made same-sex marriages legal in April, said the legal sanctions afforded to them by state-recognized marriage have allowed them to make big changes.

Six months later, their life has changed for the better, they said, for the ability to both be covered by the health insurance Chuck Swaggerty-Morgan has at his job and for being able to adopt children as a couple.

Speaking as some of their four kids played in the living room, Jason Swaggerty-Morgan explained that previously one person in a partnership would adopt a child individually, then the other partner, months later, would adopt as a second parent.

“It is twice as expensive, it is twice the hassle, plus I had to wait six months, knowing that I wasn’t really the adoptive parent. It was really sad,” Jason Swaggerty-Morgan said.

On Oct. 16, the two may have made another Iowa first — the married same-sex couple adopted children, the Swaggerty-Morgans said.

“It was a real victory for us when we adopted these children…. We were treated equally, as if we were a heterosexual married couple,” Jason Swaggerty-Morgan said.