 |
Thank you for your generous gift of life and love! |
|
Thank you for your generous gift of life and love! |
“It’s not about us”
Galatians 2:20—
“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the Life I now live in the flesh I live by the faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me”
When Carmen and Ryan first met, it was love at first sight! They met through EHarmony, were talking about adoption and marriage on their first date, were married 7 months later, and brought home two wonderful children less than 2 years later!
Now they are starting a new journey to bring home Sparrow (Jenifer)! Jenifer is already 12 years old. She was born with Treacher Collins Syndrome. As a result, Jenifer is deaf and suffers with anal atresia. She’s waited too long for a family! In only 2 short months, everyone in the family has started learning sign language, and we can’t wait to “say” hello and I love you to their daughter Sparrow!
Carmen and Ryan are so blessed to walk through life with their other adopted children, Luke and Lucy, and are looking forward to bringing their Sparrow home. Thank you for being part of her “forever miracle”! You can donate for early expenses on their
There is always room in their nest and hearts.
8/15/16—HOMESTUDY COMPLETE
Follow the family’s adoption journey on their blog at beforeievenknewyou.blogspot.com
Jade & Annie Reid are high school sweet hearts! The first night they met, Annie was so nervous she sat on an exercise bike to avoid sitting by Jade on the couch! After they started dating, Annie knew Jade would be her future husband, and now they have officially been a couple for nearly 20 years!
In March of 2004, Jade & Annie were married in their home town where it all began, and started a life together there. In December of 2005 they welcomed their first daughter into the world. She had wild hair, and a big personality to match! Aubrie Grace was born & welcomed into the world as the first grand child on both sides of the family!
Shortly after Aubrie’s birth Jade & Annie took on the unimaginable task of building a new home, completely on their own! Jade worked hard with Annie’s father Stuart and they built a house on a beautiful pasture in 18 months time!
In the same year, just shy of Aubrie’s first birthday, Jade & Annie announced they were expecting their second child, a boy named Everett Mason. He arrived just before the house was completed and life was truly perfection in complete chaos. His sister Aubrie adored him, and loved being a big sister. Shortly after his birth the Reid’s moved into their new home!
The Reid’s thought life was complete until in May of 2010, they had the biggest surprise that baby #3 was on the way! They fully intended their 3rd child to be a surprise at birth! And a surprise she was indeed! The Reid’s found out in October of 2010 that their daughter would be rocking designer genes (Down syndrome) and also had a balanced AV Canal that would require open heart surgery after her birth.
In February 2011, Ollie Faith entered the world, stole hearts, and transformed minds. Not a day has been the same since she entered the Reid’s lives and she has monumentally impacted every person in their family!
In typical Ollie fashion, she sailed through open heart surgery, and has been a busy, joyful little girl in everything she does!!!
After Ollie, the Reid’s again thought their family was complete, but God works in the best ways! Adoption came into their prayers! In July of 2016, their next daughter was found! As soon as Annie saw her face & a video of her, she knew exactly where they would go to bring their little girl home!
Jade & Annie are over the moon excited!! Big sister, Aubrie, cried when she found out about the adoption & said she’s been praying for a baby sister for so long! And big brother, Everett, said he is willing to sit by his sister Aubrie in the back seat to allow room in the car for baby sister! Ha! And Ollie, well we are sure she will be excited when she figures out what is happening, and that she has a baby sister in her room!!!!
We can’t wait to get our daughter home & are so excited about the journey to get there!!!!
9/13/16—HOMESTUDY COMPLETE
Follow the family’s adoption journey on their blog at housethatjadebuilt.blogspot.com
Joseph and Samantha have always done things a little differently. They met at 14 and 16, began courting soon after and never dated anyone else. They secretly eloped in 2009 instead of having a big wedding. They didn’t wait long to have children and now 7 years into their marriage have three beautiful kids ages 6 and under!
Adoption has always been on both of their hearts. They always planned to pursue adoption in one way or another. After moving into a bigger house with a fenced yard in the summer of 2015 they began to discuss their options. But in the fall they found out they were expecting! They weren’t certain what God was doing giving them another biological baby when they thought they were supposed to adopt.
In early November, it was discovered that their beloved baby had passed away for unknown reasons. They mourned the great loss of miscarriage and celebrated this short, perfect life God had blessed them with. A couple months later they felt doors being opened and they began their adoption journey officially in January! Their hearts and minds were opened to special needs orphans more than ever.
Little did they know, on the opposite side of the world, a perfect baby boy was born at the same time the baby they were expecting was called to heaven. Sweet Liam was born with Hydrocephalus, vision impairment, cleft palate.
He needs them to come get him from the other side of the world as fast as possible! Once again, the Siebolds are doing things a little differently as the medical expedite needed requires them to do everything all at once and much faster than usual! Their sweet boy needs surgery ASAP and they are doing everything they can to welcome him home.
God is good and He writes the best stories!
8/22/16—COMPILING DOSSIER
Follow the Siebold family’s adoption journey on their blog at www.nonfictionfairytale.com
The Priens are a big, loud, fun-loving family with an even bigger heart. Todd and Jill have been married for 25 years and have 13 children, 11 biological and 2 adopted. Last year, they adopted Natalya and Leila from Eastern Europe. There, they met Simon, a sweet little boy with Down syndrome. They have a 5-year old son with Down syndrome, which has helped them to learn the ins and outs of that handicap. When they got to know Simon, they knew he had to be a part of their family.
Some people call them crazy for having so many kids, but they wouldn’t trade it for the world. They want to give each of their children the chance to have a happy, healthy life.
8/27/16—HOMESTUDY COMPLETE, AWAITING USCIS APPROVAL
Shawn and Kara live in Memphis TN with their two beautiful daughters adopted from China. Shawn works at St. Jude children’s hospital by day and as an artist at night. Kara works from home as an artist. Their adoption story begins when they brought home Chandler in December 2012. In 2014 Perry joined the family. Suddenly life got very busy and with two fun feisty six year olds and the family seemed complete. That is until they saw a picture of a girl with intelligent eyes and a dazzling smile. Keely has Cerebral Palsy which affects her mobility. She will be soon be thirteen years old. For orphans, birthdays are not always happy occasions; if she is not adopted by fourteen she will lose forever her chance to have a family. When the family saw her profile on Reese’s rainbow they knew they would be going back to Asia. They are thrilled and cannot wait to bring their daughter and sister home.
7/20/16—HOME STUDY COMPLETE
Follow the family’s adoption journey: Shawn and Kara’s adoption page
We are so lucky to have found this boy! Dave & Kelly have been together for over a decade. In 2010, we wed in Hawaii and two years later in 2012 we welcomed a beautiful daughter. We love to travel and stay active. The three of us are more than thrilled to bring this little guy home for many reasons. We also have plenty of love and support and our very well prepared to help him. Our daughter has the same syndrome and we are familiar with all of the specialists he will need to see. We enjoy spending free time with our family and friends. We cannot wait to bring him home.
8/25/16—COMPILING DOSSIER
Mark & Virginia Miner met at church as teenagers, fell in love, and married when Mark graduated from college. God has given us three (soon to be four, then five) children: Ivan (4 yrs) loves music, drawing, stories, and is excited for another brother or two; Gibbs (2 yrs) loves to help out with dishes, yard work, and anything physically demanding or crazy; Ana (14 yrs) came home to us from Bulgaria in 2015, and her smile and giggle have been a delight to us all. We are looking forward to our new baby boy (April 2016), and excited to bring “Owen” home to join all the jolly brothers. We are thankful for our local church family and for all those people of God who are a blessing to orphans.
7/6/16—HOME STUDY COMPLETE
Follow the family’s adoption journey on their blog at iamtheresurrectionandthelife.blogspot.com
Matt and Stacey met in Peru on a mission trip and have 5 children ranging from 3-18 years old. Adoption has been a topic of discussion since the beginning, but it didn’t seem to be the right season. The Coopers feel that the most tangible way to display the gospel of Christ is to adopt and that they should be active in living out James 1:27. Even though the house was full, it felt like someone was missing from the dinner table and there was another child that needed to be tucked in at night. They knew that they were being called to look to for a child with special needs, and found they had a heart for those with Down Syndrome. While looking at the waiting children, Matt saw Charlotte and remarked, “that’s a Cooper”.
They jumped off the proverbial fence and headfirst into the adoption process. Within days, the Coopers were notified they were not only approved to adopt, but that they were matched with Charlotte as well. When you join God in His plan, it’s like a speeding bullet!
Stacey has a love for running and there is a program called RODS, Racing for Orphans with Down Syndrome, so she is able to combine her favorite things together-running, raising funds for orphans, and being an advocate for Down Syndrome! Hopefully once Charlotte is home, she can join Stacey in some races being pushed in a jogging stroller. Charlotte may be the link that joins the entire family in running!
All of the Coopers are eagerly awaiting the call to travel to bring Charlotte home to her forever family. We trust in God that if He called us, He will equip us and we give Him the glory for the provision of finances and the privilege of adoption.
6/17/16—HOMESTUDY IN PROCESS
Paul and Emily Jarrell are parents to two sweet babies who were born to them and one precious girl who was born to another.
Emily has always known she wanted to adopt. After meeting Paul, they were quickly married and quickly having kids. After the birth of their second child, Emily felt she should take a break from having more biological children (a feeling she didn’t expect). Within a few months, she was thinking about adoption for the first time since she was married. So, she began searching the internet for information. A few years earlier, she had spent five months in Eastern Europe; part of her time spent in orphanages. She began her search there.
She came across “waiting children”- terminology she wasn’t familiar with. She began reading and showing the profiles to Paul. “Eden” was one of the first profiles she found. She kept going back to it, despite the fact that she had never considered the adoption of an older child. So, she asked Paul what he thought about inquiring further. He said, “Go for it.” Before they knew it, they were raising funds and filling out paperwork trying to get to the little girl God had been holding for them for the past eight years.
Paul and Emily believe adoption is a picture of the gospel, of God’s grace to us. We are adopted into his family and given full rights as children, not because of anything we have to offer but because of his great love for us. Will you help them live this out?
9/8/16-—DOSSIER COMPLETE, AWAITING USCIS APPROVAL
Mark and Callie Van Wagenen have been married for 8 years and have been longing to start their family. They both come from large families and have yearned to have a family of their own. After struggling through infertility they decided to open their hearts to adoption.
They believe that God has a plan for them and have been seeking His guidance through their journey. After receiving strong promptings to start looking international to build their family, they found Ryan and knew that he would be their son.
They see miracles every day as they work to bring him home. Thank you for being a part of that miracle.
6/21/16—DOSSIER COMPLETE
Follow the family’s adoption journey on their blog at markandcallieadopt.blogspot.com
Steve and Ginger Karrick have eight children soon to be nine. Five of their children are adopted from China. In 2009, they stared the process to adopt and eighteen months later brought home their first little one from China, Kimmie. Kimmie had unknown special needs, she has autism. It was quite the adjustment for her and the entire family. But God used this precious little one to change their hearts forever. Over the next seven years they brought home Libbie (2011), Opal (2012), and Mariella and Samuel last year. Once home several months with the two newest little ones they saw “Juliana” on Reece’s Rainbow and on an advocacy page stating she was going to be deemed unadoptable if no one came forward to adopt her. Their hearts broke for this previous little one. They began to pray for her. They have adopted several children with similar special needs, extreme developmental delays, being non-verbal and autism. They also feel extremely blessed to see each of their children blossom once home. The light in their eyes come on and begin to understand what love is. After much praying they realized that “Juliana” is their daughter. She is four years old and from Asia, she is also blessed with an extra chromosome. They are stepping out on faith and are excited to resume the journey once again to bring their daughter “Juliana” home.
7/17/16—COMPILING DOSSIER
Follow the family’s adoption journey on their blog at kingsandqueensadvocacy.blogspot.com
7/23/16—HOME STUDY COMPLETE, AWAITING USCIS APPROVAL
Follow the family’s journey on their blog at themotherofmanychildren.blogspot.com
Candy and Frederick adopted their daughter, Grace, almost three years ago from China. When Grace, who was born with Cerebral palsy, arrived home she was a three-year-old who was used to sitting slumped in her stroller for the majority of the day. The past few years they both realized how blessed they are to live in America. Here, in America, a child who was “Forgotten” in her country is given the chance to succeed. Graces amazes her family every day by what her team of teachers and therapists report her progress. Most recently she started to use her left hand (the palsy side of her body) to take a peg out of a board, and through feeding therapy is now able to chew small bites of food (no more puree)!
Joy has Down syndrome and is a 6-year-old girl living in a foster home. Her story is similar to Grace’s in that she was abandoned shortly after being born. The Woertman’s wish to bring her home and into their home. Their first venture into international adoption requried they refinance their house. This time, though, they are acting on faith that friends, family members, and people they have never met would want to partner with them to bring Joy “home”. An African proverb states that “It takes a village to raise a child.” They are asking for you to join our village to help bring Joy to their household and allow her to be given a chance to realize her full potential in life.
6/17/16—HOMESTUDY IN PROCESS
John is one of 11 kids and loves every minute of being in such a big family! While he never thought he would have a big family of his own, he is certainly warming up to the idea. Kelsey was born to be a mom and if you ask anyone that knows her, it is no surprise she has so many children already! John is analytical and precise while Kelsey tends to be a free spirit which makes them perfect for each other.
We have 4 wild and adventurous children, ranging in age from only 1 year old to 5 years old (there are twins in there)! As you can imagine, our life seems pretty chaotic to most. To us, it is full of grace, joy, and a whole lot of laughter. Our youngest was adopted domestically, and God took us a on a serious journey through that process of learning who He is and what His heart beats for. Before she was ever in our arms, we knew we would adopt again.
We prayed and prayed that God would give us clarity on what He wanted next for us. Kelsey began looking on Reece’s Rainbow and was sure of two things: God wanted us to adopt a child listed on RR, and He wanted us to look in Eastern Europe. When she brought this to John, he was a bit unsure and needed some time to process it and pray. While he knew it was what God wanted, he wrestled with the idea of where the money would come from after such a short time of recovery from our last adoption. We both asked God to put us on the same page. After about only a week, we sat down and talked. We were both sure now that, despite the uncertainties, God was asking us to move forward. He reminded us that He is in control and the single source of all we have, and every blessing we have is from Him.
Back to Reece’s Rainbow we went and prayed about a few different kids. We didn’t yet have a clear “yes” on any kids until one day when we searched “Newly Listed Children.” The very first little boy that popped up, we knew. He was who God had laid on our hearts and told us to pursue.
We couldn’t be more thrilled to be on this journey again and bringing home our son, Billy, soon to be named August! He is already so deeply cherished and loved.
Update! The Jast family will also be bringing home DAVID.
9/8/16—AWAITING USCIS APPROVAL
Jennifer and Robert have been married for almost 18 years, and have five wonderful children (four born to them and one adopted from Asia). Their family was complete, until Jennifer – who sometimes volunteers as an advocate for their adoption agency – saw “Lanikai” on their agency’s waiting child list.
Lanikai needs to come home as soon as possible. She has developed epilepsy, which is not uncommon in children with CP. Lanikai’s epilepsy is severe, however, and her orphanage has not been able to control it with medication. Jennifer and Robert are doing everything they can to get to Lanikai as soon as possible. Despite a series of “you know you are adopting when” issues (a builder who ran off with their large deposit, a police clearance that is inexplicably delayed … ), they are praying that both the U.S. and Asia will expedite their approvals.
The Flanigan family is so very grateful for the support of the Reece’s Rainbow community. Lanikai’s grant helped them to make the decision to commit to adopt again now.
8/28/16—AWAITING USCIS APPROVAL
Jaime and Chris married over 10 years ago after meeting each other at church. They started their family immediately, always knowing adoption would be apart of it. Right after their first anniversary, Chris and Jaime started the process to become Foster Parents and over the last 9 years have fostered over 30 children and have adopted 5 through Foster Care. In 2013 they were blessed once again by the birth of their youngest son, whom they adopted as an embryo. (He had been frozen for 8 years!)
The Richardson’s were greatly blessed to be matched with a 4 year old treasure for an interstate adoption through foster care in 2015. This little boy was very medically fragile and though he had a life limiting diagnosis, no one expected his passing to be imminent. Within weeks of being matched, their son became very ill. After several months of him being in and out of the hospital and the Richardson family living on and off in a Ronald McDonald house 7 hours from home, their son (in their hearts, as the adoption wasn’t yet finalized) passed away and went home to be with Jesus. Six months, to the day, after the passing of their son, the Richardson’s found out about twin girls in a China diagnosed with Down Syndrome, who needed a family. They immediately felt that these were their daughters and submitted a request to be matched with the girls.
A few weeks later, the Richardson’s learned of a little boy, Elihu, who also was diagnosed with Down syndrome, living in the same room of the same orphanage as the girls. The Richardson’s quickly decided to pursue adopting Elihu as well. The family lovingly refers to their waiting children as “the Triad” and they cannot wait to get them all home!
This large family knows first hand how much the love and security of a family can change the life of a child and they feel triply blessed to be adopting their princesses and prince from China.
Thank you for your financial and prayer support in bringing this family together.
8/25/2016—USCIS APPROVED
Follow the family’s adoption journey on their blog at richardsontribe.blogspot.com
Okay I know I’ve said this before, MANY times before, infact. And I must admit I really did BELIEVE it as well. That being said, we do ultimately serve a God, who is much wiser than I am, andddd in His ultimate wisdom, He has decided ONE more TIME…So here we go.
So without further ado,We are the Steinhoff family, so NOT new to adoption! We have children from China and Ethiopia and Ukraine. YUP we are MIGHTLY Blessed, and we are excited to see how God brings us our last, but NOT least precious kiddos home!! Please join us and Pray fully, consider how you can help families just like ours, because we need it, and we CANNOT do it without you!! If you don’t know what to pray for, or how you can help. Please ASK…If you want information on how you can adopt, message me I would LOVE to help you plan your journey as well. Adoption is sooo Gods heart, and He makes it pretty clear we are to care for the orphans!!
Sincerely the very BIG and the VERY Blessed Steinhoff Family
8/26/16—HOMESTUDY COMPLETE
Faith. What does it mean to you? As I study that word in the Bible, I learn : “Now faith is the confidence that we shall receive the things for which we hope, the proof of the reality of things we do not see…”
We will be adopting another little girl from Asia with Down Syndrome. LuLu. We have chosen “Faith” to be her middle name ~ LuLu Faith Madsen. For right now, it is by FAITH we must believe, not by what we feel or see. She was born at the exact time as our adopted daughter Lilly, abandoned at 8 months like Lil, and looks JUST like our Lil. We will call them twins. We have been formally accepted to be LuLu’s parents. Let the paperwork and money craziness start.
We have prayed—A LOT. We still are. We have asked for His will. His provisions. We feel called. He equips the called. Our flesh is overwhelmed. Scared. And then we remember ~ Let our FAITH be bigger than our fears. So, we step. Our other children tell us to go & get that little girl home- she needs a family. Lilly is super excited that LuLu is going to share a room with her and have “lots of sleep- overs.”
Please follow us on our CrAzY journey to bring this sweet child home. We ask, that if at all possible, to support us in any way you can. We ask for your prayers. More than anything- we want to THANK YOU for loving and supporting us.
9/24/16—HOME STUDY COMPLETE
We are the Romero family. We have six children ages 12-2. We learned that our youngest was gifted with an extra chromosome shortly after his birth in July 2014. The truth of Psalm 139:13 — “You knitted me together in my mother’s womb” — became that much more intimate as we explained to our children that God added the extra copy of chromosome 21 more than a trillion times. We knew that God made our son and every one of us uniquely, in His image, for His glory and there are no mistakes.
We had never thought about adoption before but through our son’s birth the Lord opened our eyes to the needs of children all around the world with a special calling to those with Down syndrome and special needs.
When we learned about Reece’s Rainbow at our first Buddy Walk and read that in other parts of the world these children are viewed as outcasts with no ability to learn or be functional members of society, languishing in mental institutions, hidden away from the world in shame, our heart broke for these children. We see their faces and picture our son being born into those circumstances. Our family knew that we had been called to serve these children.
We stared at the Reece’s Rainbow magnet on our refrigerator and their web site for months, praying for the children and saying that we will adopt “one day”. Until we finally realized that the only thing holding us back was fear, fear of traveling, fear of all that is involved and a lot of financial fears. We thought about how powerful our God is and the fact that the bigger the “task” the greater glory we see in His hand in it. We were reminded of Gideon whose army was dwindled to 300 just so that the glory would go to the Lord and the miracles that Christ did throughout the Bible. He is the creator of this universe. How could we fear or doubt His power in this? We know it won’t be easy but we have trust in Him.
We are so excited to bring Domenic home to our family. We are so anxious to wrap our arms around him and show him the love of a family and the love of our Savior! In our minds and hearts he is already our son. We know that not everyone is called to adopt and not everyone is called to adopt an orphan with special needs, but some are called to pray and pray earnestly and some are called to give and give generously. What an amazing picture of the body of Christ at work, all for the love of this one precious baby. Thank you for joining us and may all glory go to our amazing God!!
7/26/2016—HOMESTUDY COMPLETE
Follow the family’s adoption journey on their blog at www.ourjourneyinfaithandlove.com
Martin and Jennifer Quinn have 7 amazing children. Three biological and four adopted from Reece’s Rainbow! In 2013 they brought home two young boys with Down Syndrome from Eastern Europe. In 2014 they returned to bring home an infant girl with Down syndrome and a young boy with Hydrocephalus, Cerebral Palsy and Epilepsy. During their first adoption they met a beautiful young girl with the saddest eyes in the orphanage their sons were at. She ran to Marty calling him “papa”. He promised one day he would return for her. That time has come! The Quinn’s are excited to fulfill their promise and finally give this beautiful orphan girl, with the sad eyes a loving forever home!
9/14/16—DOSSIER COMPLETE, AWAITING USCIS APPROVAL
Follow the family’s adoption journey at Growing Up Quinntuplets
We have been blessed by adoption a few times over now but that doesn’t dampen the excitement of welcoming a new child into the family. We are absolutely thrilled to bring Cullen home and love him like he deserves!
We appreciate your continued prayers and support for our family and this boy who has waited so long for a family to choose him. Thank you!
9/24/16—HOME STUDY COMPLETE
The McLaughlins met their first adopted daughter while living in China and volunteering in an orphanage. They had the rare and amazing opportunity to foster her until she and her new younger sister were adopted in Dec 2013. After returning to America, they learned their oldest daughter has a terminal muscle wasting disease called Spinal Muscular Atrophy. Learning of this disease and having spent time with so many children with all different diagnoses in Asia, one comes to know intimately that every life has value and meaning despite any “limitations” they face. They describe their oldest daughter with SMA as passionate, vivacious, a winner of hearts and a changer of lives. Last year when they received news of another girl with SMA whose first parents wanted to dissolve their adoption, they knew undoubtedly they were being asked to step forward for her and to celebrate this precious child. She became part of their family in the fall of 2015. The McLaughlins have a heart and a calling for the medically fragile and for the aging-out whose life without a family is a scary prospect. To think of these children left to their own devices with limited or no education, no family, and no support, they feel called to action. “Our children are so much more than a disability or statistic by which they are defined as orphans. We cannot wait to bring our newest daughter into the precious folds of family and love, to call her Daughter. Our hearts and home are ready. Will you commit with us and help bring our daughter home?”
9/24/16—HOME STUDY COMPLETE
Follow the family’s adoption journey on their blog at fortheloveoflaila.com/app