TWO GIRLS for the Leonard family — MO
Jared and Emily have been married for 21 years and have been blessed with wonderful children. However, they would like to continue to add to their family through the adoption of a special needs child. Jared owns his own business and Emily stays home with their children. So, any child that they are blessed to add would have her undivided time and attention and be surrounded by love from their other children. Their home is a source of pride for both her and her husband; not because of it’s size or location but because of the opportunity Emily has had to redo it. Jared is a contractor and has put in countless hours remodeling, rebuilding, and helping her realize the various renovations that she felt made her house more of a home, as well as a better fit for their large, and still growing, family.
Emily has always had a fun loving, outgoing, creative, faithful spirit. She values her husband and her family but even more so her relationship with God. She takes her faith in her Heavenly Father to heart and because of this she tries to live out her faith through unconditionally loving everyone. This is one of the reasons she has such a passion for children in need of loving homes. Jared grew up in a large family and because his dad was adopted from an orphanage, he shares Emily’s passion and vision for how their family should be grown.
Jared and Emily currently have 6 children at home. Their youngest is a special needs baby that they have guardianship of; but they hope to adopt him before too long. Their oldest child is their daughter Jerica, then their son Jeremiah who they adopted from foster care as a special needs child. They then adopted their daughter Brinlee as a special needs infant from foster care. After a short breather and after their special needs children were older Jared and Emily took in and adopted two more children from the foster care system. They felt their hearts still pulled to give a family and home to another special needs child, which lead them to their baby Tye.
It could be said that Jared and Emily have done enough. They have fulfilled their part in helping others and lightening the worlds load. However, Emily and Jared cannot shake the intense feeling that their family is still missing one piece. Their hearts have felt the cries of special needs children in Eastern Europe and they are responding. After much prayer, thought, and conversations with their other children the Leonard’s have reached out to an orphanage and found a little girl with Down Syndrome. This precious baby is in desperate need of a forever home with a family that will love her and be able to care for her many needs. The Leonard family feels honored to step up, wrap her in their arms, and give her an otherwise unimaginable life; thus completing their family puzzle with this last missing piece.
6/20/2019 — HOMESTUDY COMPLETE
Darrel and Shonette Koebel have been married for almost 31 years. Darrel, is retired from the Air Force, he served 24.5 years for his country. After retirement Darrel decided to serve his community and became a law enforcement officer. He currently works for the Sheriffs department in his county. Shonette is a stay at home mom, wife and homeschool teacher to her kids. When Darrel and Shonette were dating they talked about having two kids and adopting two. Little did they know the love and joy they would experience through adoption! They had two children, a boy and girl. Then they decided it was time to start their journey with adoption. They got licensed as foster parents and were lucky to get twin infant boys. They were 3 months old when they got them. They had a lot of growing to do. They were born at 27 weeks. Darrel and Shonette fell in love with those two boys. It was a rough journey, but so rewarding. After a year of having the twins, they were able to adopt them. Then Shonette got pregnant a few months after the adoption. Soon their family would become a family of six. However, God had another plan in mind. When the Koebels had five children, the state called and asked if they had room in their hearts for two more kids. The Koebels couldn’t say no. They took a two-year-old little girl and eight month old boy. That would give them three two year olds and two infants, as well as their older two. Five in diapers at one time, the Koebel’s hands were full and their hearts were overflowing with love. After two years with these two little ones, the Koebels adopted them. They thought they were done. Yet again, God had other plans for them. Not even a month after they adopted those two kids, Shonette found out she was pregnant again. They were shocked and wondered what God was doing. They were given shirts that said eight is enough. As they prepared for their eighth child God decided to blow their socks off. The two they had just adopted, their mother had another baby boy. The state asked them if they would take him to keep siblings together. What were they supposed to say? They stepped up and said yes. Darrel and Shonette took in this baby and got him on a good schedule before Shonette had their fourth-biological child five weeks early. The Koebel’s felt content and were happy with their family.
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