We are the Winslow family; a family of 4 who is working towards becoming a family of 6, by adoption! Our story began in 2007, when I met my husband, Dan. Dan was an active duty PFC in the Army and was a very proud soldier. Sadly, and proudly, the day came when Dan received orders for his deployment to Iraq, and it was scheduled to be an 18-month long tour. When Dan deployed that day, I was about four months pregnant with our son; whom was named after his dad.
Unfortunately, Dan’s deployment did not go without complication. During a mission, one of his battle buddies dropped a very large and heavy tailgate onto the top of his head. This injury was not properly treated by the medical team and sadly everyone went on with their mission, Dan included. Over the next several months, Dan continued to serve in Iraq and did have many complications arise that were going untreated.
When our adorable baby boy was born, Dan was unable to make it home. Dan was not able to officially meet Daniel until a “rest and relaxation” was allotted, which allowed Dan leave Iraq for 18 days to be home. At that time, Daniel was 2 months old. During the 18 days home, we were officially married. After returning to Iraq, two years after the initial accident, a brain scan was even completed and we learned Dan suffered a traumatic brain injury. Due to this, Dan’s “planned out future” of staying Army until a 20-year retirement turned into becoming medically retired from the United States Army at the age of 25.
Dan and I were absolutely thrilled being parents, we always wanted a large family. We became pregnant again but lost the baby in a very early stage; this happened again during pregnancy number three and four. These losses were very hard on our family. In January of 2014, Daniel was 5 years old and we were once again blessed to learn that I was pregnant, but also absolutely petrified. Our beautiful little girl decided to come none the less; at only 25 weeks gestation; we named our tiny girl Joslynn.
Throughout our marriage, Dan and I have always had discussions about adoption, our goal has always been to have a blended family of biological and adoptive children. We always had this image that when God spoke, we would know it was time to start the process to adopt from foster, but little did we know the plans He had in store for us.
On a morning that seemed no different than any other day, I was scrolling on Facebook of all places and came across a post that a friend made. This post showed a picture of an adorable little boy with the sweetest grin. I learned that this sweet child was in Eastern Europe and I learned this child was an orphan and had a lot of the same special needs as our Joslynn! I can’t explain it in any other way then that I felt God speak to my heart. It was as if He said, “this is your son.” Then we came across a little girl with adorable curls and it was as if we could hear her laugh through her photo. Dan and I just looked at each other and we knew.
Silas
Feeling so called, we started praying very fervently, this was such a big cost and a scary one to boot. How could we possibly think we could do this? When speaking to Daniel and Joslynn regarding the children, they were both so excited. Daniel yelled out “I will make a lemonade stand! We can raise the money” and our hearts just melted. Just today, our little Joslynn found a penny in a parking lot and excitedly exclaimed “this is going to help bring our babies home!” Its such a big leap of faith, but as a family it’s a faith walk, we feel God is calling us on. We are trusting in Him to provide and doing all we can to be open vessels for that providing.
7/20/2020 — FINAL TRIP LATE JULY
In heartbreaking news, Silas passed away before his family was able to travel and meet him. They are continuing with the adoption to bring Patricia home, and have added Edward to their adoption, in honor of Silas’s memory.
Edward and Patricia have each received a $2000 grant!
