Tag Archive for: GA

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.

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.

7/29/2019 — DOSSIER COMPLETE

Silas and Patricia have each received a $2000 grant! 

Larry and Angela met when Angela was still in high school and began dating several years later. Friendship blossomed into love and they married in 1993. Early on in their relationship they discussed their future plans for a family and decided that they would have at least one biological child but would also like to adopt at some point. They talked about the possibility of adopting a child with Down syndrome one day, since as a special education teacher Angela had always felt called to parent a child with special needs. Six years after getting married they had Holton, and for the next 9 years he was an only child. At that point, they realized that it was time to expand their family and they both agreed that it wasn’t important to them whether they brought any more children into the world, because there were plenty of kids who needed families and they would love them just as much whether or not they gave birth to them. In addition, they realized that there were many kids who were considered harder to place due to being older or having special needs. They wanted to provide a family for kids who may not otherwise have one. Their daughter Maili joined the family at the age of 4. She was born in China and was listed as having a congenital heart defect in addition to significant developmental delays due to hypoxia at birth. She brought a joy to their family that they had not even imagined possible, and two years later they returned to China to adopt another daughter. Callie was 6 years old at that time and only 8 months younger than Maili. She had a very rare heart condition but has thrived after having surgery. The girls quickly became inseparable and today these virtual twins are still the very best of friends. Now that the girls are almost teenagers, the Hornbuckles have decided that it is time to add to their joy once more by adopting a little boy with Down syndrome. The kids couldn’t be more excited about having a younger sibling to dote on, and Angela and Larry are ready to complete their family as they envisioned it almost 25 years ago. They feel particularly led to adopt a child with more significant medical and developmental disabilities who may have a harder time finding a family. In addition to Down Syndrome, Ethan has been diagnosed with a congenital heart defect (TOF) as well as tracheal and subglottic stenosis. He has a g tube and currently receives tube feedings.

Due to Ethan’s extensive medical needs, there will be increased medical expenses once he arrives home and they are trying to make sure that they are allowing for that in the monthly budget. Although they have the resources needed to raise this child, they do not yet have all of the resources they need to bring him home. Therefore they will have to rely on the understanding of grant selection committees and generous donors to help them come up with the final $7,000 or so they will need in order to bring this sweet boy home to his forever family in Georgia. The Hornbuckles believe that every child deserves a family regardless of their disability, and this little guy is no exception. They also believe that where God guides, He provides and they ask that you find it in your hearts to help Ethan come home to his forever family because they can’t wait to meet him!

6/12/2019 — DOSSIER SUBMITTED OCT 2018