We have been blessed by the adoption of 2 little boys. I must say, they are amazing! I can’t imagine our life without them.
They are only 9-1/2 months apart and we adopted them as newborns. We brought one home when he was 9 weeks old and the other when he was almost 4 months old. They’re now 5 and 4. The older is Chinese and the younger is Russian, so we call them our Chinese-Russian-Irish twins since they were both born in the same year.
They are extra-special to us, not just because they both have Down syndrome, but because of the way God placed them into our family. We were actually trying to adopt 2 little girls from Mexico and the process shut down. (More about them another day…..we’d still go get them in a heartbeat. They also sported “designer genes”.) Our boys were adopted domestically and we had only been talking to the agency we adopted them through for a few weeks when they called us about the first one. ( not normal and totally unexpected) We didn’t even have our home study 100% finished!
We had no idea of the gender or ethnicity, but when they said the baby had Down syndrome, we immediately said yes! Ironically, when the agency called us about him, John was at the airport heading to Mexico for a mission trip in the same city/area where the girls’ orphanage is located.
For our 2nd adoption, we did not meet any of the criteria the birth family was looking for (like we had 6 children and they were thinking 3 or less). We were just an extra family to make sure they had a choice. They loved the idea of the boys having each other though and we were shocked that they chose us. It has been an amazing experience and his birth parents and extended family have become a very special part of our family. They actually come and visit him. They sing happy birthday to him and watch him open presents, eat his cake, and all sorts of milestones like that through Skype. It’s a long story, but how cool is that? God is pretty amazing how He works things out!
I’ve always wanted to adopt and have always been drawn to people with special needs or to the “underdogs”. I originally studied special education and love working with individuals with special needs and their families. I would love to have an orphanage or move to some country and work in one or run it. <<sigh>>
I feel so humbled that God chose us for these beautiful little boys.
I look at their faces and tears come to my eyes when I think of how blessed we truly are. One of our baby losses was a miscarriage at 14 weeks, but the other 2 were further along at 33 and 29 weeks. They both had chromosomal abnormalities—one had Trisomy 13 and the other had Trisomy 21 (Down syndrome). One of those was also the twin to our oldest son.
We specifically wanted to adopt children with special needs. I often reflect on our experiences and think how much I feel like Job in some ways. He lost everything, including his 7 children. He eventually received double of everything he lost except for his children. He was blessed with the same amount he lost–7 more.
I can’t help but smile when I think of how God works. We knew the diagnosis for both Hannah and David before they were born and really looked forward to raising them. ( Or, at least Hannah. We knew David’s was pretty much fatal.) We also lost the experience of raising twins. But look what God did…………he not only gave us 2 more children with Down syndrome, he gave us “virtual twins”. In that way, it makes me feel like Job. It’s like He gave us back the experiences we lost.
Hmmmm, does that mean there’s one more still? ( If so, our girls say the next one should be a girl! )
Adoption truly has been a blessing to our family. If you ever have any questions about adoption, I’d be more than happy to talk to you about it.
We never (!!!) dreamed we would have newborns. We planned to adopt children about the ages of our girls or a few years younger. Apparently God had other plans. If you are considering adoption, I would definitely recommend praying about it and being open to whatever God would choose to do with your family.
It has been an exciting journey for us and we would most definitely do it again! We are truly blessed!
