Sawyer Spadgenske, 8, likes to tell people he has two homes.

There is the house in Birmingham where his mom and dad, Jennifer and Eric, and his sister Lily live.

And there is his other home in Atlanta.

That would be one of Atlanta's two Ronald McDonald houses. Sawyer and his sister, Lily, 11, had liver transplants shortly after birth because of the same congenital condition.

The McDonald's fast-food chain builds and maintains the houses and provides free stays for families of seriously ill children in hospitals.

Despite the reasons they were there, the Spadgenskes grew to love the house on Houston Mill Road, says Jennifer Spadgenske.

"That house will forever etched in our hearts," she said.

Soon, it will be just a memory. There is no guarantee her kids won't be back, but if they do return, they will stay in a new, $15 million, 50-bedroom Ronald McDonald House on Gatewood Road near Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston.

It opens its doors Monday and includes 10 special isolation suites for families and children whose immune systems are weakened because of illness or procedures such as transplants. Formerly, those children had to stay in the hospital because of the danger of infection.

"The suites are real state of the art," said Linda Morris, executive director of the Atlanta house.

The lack of isolation rooms is not the only reason a new house was needed. The old house had 16 rooms. There is a second, 11-bedroom Ronald McDonald House near Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Scottish Rite — 27 rooms total to serve more than 1,000 families a year. It wasn't nearly enough.

"We were getting near turning 500 families away a year," Morris said.

The organization launched a fund-raising campaign in 2005, worked out a land swap with Emory University for a site for the new house and started digging shortly afterward.

They got financial support from organizations such as the

Woodruff Foundation, The Kresge Foundation, The Carlos and Marguerite Mason

Trust, Coca-Cola, AFLAC and the Greater Atlanta McDonald's Operators Association.

The new facility is one of the larger houses in the network. Families staying in Atlanta will no longer have to share laundry equipment or bathrooms, and waiting parents and siblings will enjoy private conference rooms, a family business center so parents can keep up with work and e-mails, a library on each floor and arts and crafts rooms.

The first Ronald McDonald house opened in 1984 in Philadelphia. It has grown to include 271 houses in 30 countries.

Morris said they are particularly proud of this house because it was built using new energy efficient equipment and recycled materials.

The Spadgenskes were there for the groundbreaking, but have not been back.

Coming to see the new house will present some of the same emotional dilemmas that face any family that relocates.

The old house retains memories. It was more than a place to catch some sleep between long days and nights of worry while holding their children's hands in the hospital. The house became a place where they found love, support and camaraderie — an extended family brought together of shared necessity.

"From the very first moment we walked in the door, it just felt like home," Jennifer Spadgenske said.

She is anxious to see the new facility.

But there is also a dread for the Spadgenskes of what another required visit would mean.

"I wish we don't have to go, but I can hardly wait to see it," she said.