Where two pages meet…(SURPRISE!!)

Two years ago this week, we received an email from an adoption recruiter in Ohio regarding a sibling group on her caseload.  At the time, we were considering our six from Nevada and were in the process of planning a visit and being matched with them.  We replied to the email and didn’t think much of it.

Fast forward to just eight months ago when we felt prompted to update our homestudy.  We didn’t know what Heavenly Father’s plan for our family was, but we began looking at profiles online and responding to worker inquiries about our family through www.adoptuskids.org and www.afamilyforeverychild.org.  Honestly, there have been many times over the last several months that we have asked in prayer if a child or children were ours and each time the answer was to keep looking or the door to that adoption would close.  Then, late one night while searching my email inbox for correspondence with a different worker, I found the old email from the worker in Ohio, and in that moment, two stories met and became entwined by love.

We have shared this news with a few close friends and family members and are now ready to shout it from the rooftops…WE ARE ADOPTING AGAIN!  A sibling group of 6 (3 boys and 3 girls) in Ohio has been planted in our hearts and in just a few short weeks we will be traveling to meet them for the first time.  

Tonight, one-hundred and four thousand children will go to bed wondering if their mom and dad will find them.  These children – our children –  have waited for nearly 9 years.  Statistically, they are considered likely to not be adopted due to a combination of factors including their race, their sibling group size, their age, and their medical and mental health needs.  We will forever be grateful for a Wendy’s Wonderful Kids Recruiter that didn’t let statistics determine their destiny and she continued to advocate for them despite all of the odds.  And because of her, an email from two years ago has forever shifted the eternities.

So before some of you freak out (trust us…we’ve already done enough of that ourselves), please know that we are asking for your unconditional love and support.  There is no illusion that this road will be easy for our family.  Please don’t make it harder.

For those of you who want to help, there are some things that we will desperately need to accommodate our home for the special medical equipment and needs of several of the children in the next 30 days including wheelchair access and modifications to a bathroom. There are three ways you can help:

1. Please lift us and our children (the ones in our home now and the ones who are about to join us) in prayer.  We will have a lot of adjustments and challenges in the next few weeks and months.  Your prayers are sincerely appreciated and felt!
2. Do you have clothes, shoes, old blankets, jeans, or towels you no longer use?  We are doing another Clothing for a Cause fundraiser by taking any textile (even if it is not in good condition) and raising money for our adoption expenses.  If Clothing for a Cause can’t use the item, they recycle it into something that can be used.  We will be collecting items through mid-September and for every pound we collect, we will receive a donation directly from Clothing for a Cause.
3.  Consider making a donation to our GoFundMe Campaign.  This is perhaps the hardest one for us to ask.  We were hesitant to put one together but realistically our house will need some modifications to accommodate for a wheelchair and a growing teenage child who cannot move around independently. One of our newest daughters has Cerebral Palsy and will need to be lifted in and out of her wheelchair to do things like showering and getting in and out of the car.  These modifications will help us help her.

Words will never be enough to express our gratitude.  Sometimes, adoption is a lonely journey but we have been incredibly blessed by so many wonderful people in our circle of friends and strangers who have been placed in our path to bless us.  You have lifted us, laughed with us, cried with us, and been a beacon of hope when things got tough.  We could not answer the call to adopt without you — you are  part of our story.  You are part of our children’s story.  Thank you.

From the land of chaos (and it’s about to get crazier),

Bridget and Ben