My story begins back on July 5, 1982, one of the the most significant days of my life. The day my brother Stephen was born. Stephen has Ds, and is now 26 years old. I remember the day he was born very clearly. My grandfather came into the bedroom and told my sister and I that Mom had the baby, and that it was a boy! It was just after midnight, and I don't think I had ever been so excited in my short life. I was 10 years old at the time. Stephen was in the NICU for a couple of days after he was born (the reason that today I am a RN in the NICU), and my dad talked to Lisa and I about him before we saw him. I think he told us he had Ds, but I do remember him telling us he would learn things more slowly than other kids, etc.. As I look back now, I think he was "counseling" himself more than us.
We just wanted to get upstairs and see that beautiful baby!!!
Stephen taught me from an early age what was important. I am SO thankful that I grew up with him. The love I felt for him always was what I assumed being a mom felt like. (Poor boy has always had 3 moms
) It was a love that almost made your heart ACHE it was so strong. It is very similar to my love for my own boys today. Anyway, life was beautiful with Stephen. He lit up our entire house with his sweet ways, and had a bigger influence than I ever dreamed possible.
Well, in 2007, after my sister Lisa had already adopted 2 little boys with Ds, she sent me an email about the treatment of orphans with special needs in some Eastern European countries. I guess up until then, I knew that I loved kids with Ds, but just never felt called to adopt a child myself. I was open to it if God placed a child in our laps, but I was not ready to "seek" it. Well, God took care of that when I read that article and saw young men (who were my brother's age) tied in cribs and left to waste away! I looked into the eyes of the little babies too, and knew that this could have been any one of our family's children with Ds if they had been born somewhere else! I was horrified, to say the least. That is when the calling on my heart began. Within 2 weeks we had committed to our little David (or Luka, previously) on Reece's Rainbow Adoption ministry. My husband was on board (eventually
) and we began our adoption process in December of 2007.
Our son Matthew came into our family via a domestic adoption. It really did not "make sense" financially to pursue an international adoption because of the expense, as well as the fact that we had already invested financially toward another domestic adoption, but had not had a placement in 1 1/2 years. God had a different plan, no question.
I fell in love almost instantly with David's photos. I dreamed about him, worked diligently on paperwork, lost hope at times that he would ever get home, etc.. In the end, we traveled to Serbia in June of 2008 and brought home our son! David means "beloved", and that is certainly what he is to us. His middle name is Peter, which is after a very special uncle (Lisa's husband).
If it were not for my brother Stephen, and my sister Lisa....I do not know if I would have arrived at this place to adopt David. I'm SO thankful God brought us here!
The day we celebrated David's birthday while in Serbia adopting him. David had never before left the orphanage!
This is my brother Stephen with David. 2 handsome men, don't you think?
Mon Feb 02, 2009 2:47 pm
