We have adopted 19 children ( so far... we know that there are more children in our hearts still to join our family). We have been adopting since our first adoption of our son, Abraham from Mexico 25 plus yrs ago. He was just around 2 yrs old blind ,abandoned, and abused. He was beaten so bad that he was in a body cast with both of his legs broken... and he suffered some brain damage from the beating as well ( not what caused his blindness). We have also done domestic foster to adopt for a few years and had children placed in our homes that we did not adopt. Our last child was blind,deaf and severely brain damaged with seizures - a 2 yr old baby boy named Anthony. We adopted our 6 children from Russia in an 8 month span ( 4 diff. trips and regions). Jacob age 11 when he came home- with severe scoliosis ( 3 major back surgeries and he has 2 rods in his back now) and a cleft palate. Lily was 2 and she had esotrophia ( eyes crossing in ) severely and other eye sight issues, Isaac was 5 and a half with failure to thrive- the size of an 18 month old and non verbal. Then there is Anna with FAS and exotropia and a cleft lip and palate- home at age 7 and Mya home at almost 13 months with paralysis of her l leg and severe failure to thrive-( only 11 lbs ) and Josiah home at 3 yrs with kidney problems... then our 10 from Ukraine- Nataly age 11 when she came with some major abuse and neglect issues ... adopted with Luke- who had no palate,cleft lip/palate, vsd- and aortic valve issues and his r leg was attached like an accordian to the middle of his back and his l leg was contractured and he had a severe clubfoot and a myloceal on his back. Joseph adopted at 15 yrs and 10 months had a cleft lip/palate and lots of abuse in the orphanage ( he and Cate had lived their whole life in the orphanage). Cate was 13 and healthy. Leah was adopted with them at the age of 12 and she had a very dysfunctional , alcoholic and abusive family . Then we went back and adopted 5 children all from the same orphanage but diff. one than our other Ukraine children... Olivia- age 16 and Rachel age 14 and Tia age 10 when they came home are bio. sisters ( our first)... their mom and grandad died of tb and they had latent tb... there family was dysfunctional and Olivia being the oldest has experienced some abuse. Jonas age 13 when he came home .. he is missing an eye due to cancer and his background is very rough as I have shared before ( his dad murdered his mom and his brother killed his dad and now is in jail) and he had been smoking since the age of 5. Caleb was adopted at age 9 and was a "street kid"... spent most of his days on the streets of Donetsk. We just came home with our 2 from Bulgaria- Andrew 5 yrs- blind, severely delayed and neglected ( functions like a 6 to 8 month old ) and Gracie - age 6- with some form of institutional autism and she is non verbal.
Now I shared just a bit about them and generally what they have medically been challenged with... I could share lots about how they have overcome and hope to write a book one day ( when I have more time)...
The reasons for my bragging tonite though is this.... they are so compassionate and loving to one another it amazes me... they also easily share this love with others... if someone calls and needs help they clamor to help and do not want to be paid... if another adoptive family needs translation help they want to help out often giving up some other fun things to go to an appointment or call the newly adopted teen and just talk... they are now bilingual and have been able to translate some documents for other families when asked... they just get so much joy out of helping others...
Also one of the reasons our family works so well with all the medical needs of our children is their ability to surround and encourage and uphold one another thru some tough times recovering from the many surgeries we have done ( Mya's tomorrow will be 67 in less than 8 yrs).
Look at how Luke brushes Mya's hair one am... he wanted to help her out while she was eating her breakfast...
Look at how they all came running out when one of them noticed Cate and Andrew were bouncing a ball... they came and got me so I could see some new thing that Andrew was doing... they get so excited about each others accomplishments and pick each other up .. The younger group came home last nite from Awanas so upset because some kids had made fun of their brother, Jonas's eye ( he is waiting for his prosthetic eye after his recent surgery and he has white comformers in)...they were telling me what they did and I was so proud of them.
Look at Anna's arms and blanket around her little brother during our Sonrise service when he was cold... and my kids do not mind taking care of Gracie or Andrew...it is very natural to them and that is one of the reasons the children have responded so well in our family... they feel this natural love and desire from all their many siblings...
And tonite everyone is so excited for Mya... she is having her surgery to remove her fixator... it is almost like each one of them has been in it right along side of her and tomorrow they all will be set free from all that metal and hardware right with their sister , Mya.
So when you think of the stories you may be hearing about in the news of older or even adopted children - remember my post tonite... and hopefully be encouraged... I just love them.
2 comments:
Jeanne,
I loved reading this, and am going to have my husband read it as well. I would give anything to have a family like yours,or to have grown up in one!
To have children love each other and their parents like they all do in your family.
You are obviously doing something right! And I can't even imagine what a better world we would live in if more families were like yours, if more parents were as dedicated to raising good, moral people.
What you have done with this big,wonderful family is like a beautiful patchwork quilt...pieces of fabric pieced together..some fabric that had been overlooked, or even discarded, patched together with love and caring to make the most beautiful quilt one can find here on this earth.
My hats off to you! You are truly an inspiration.
Jodi
Jodi
Your stories about the kids and what they've been through, along with all the sweet pictures, has me in tears. You have a beautiful family, Jeanne. Jodi said it very well.
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