Many of you may know our story, but some of you probably do not. From an early age, I had a heart for adoption and orphan care. We brought Corinne home from China in 2013, and made that desire a reality. Through Corinne’s adoption, our eyes were opened immensely to the needs of orphans of all ages around the globe. Our heart for adoption grew even stronger. Our goal was to possibly re-use our paperwork and travel back to China to adopt again. Until….
Six months after bringing Corinne home, our 7 year old son Carter was diagnosed with leukemia. Our lives felt shattered for a time with this news. As parents, there is nothing harder than having your child be so sick. Carter went through 3.5 years of chemotherapy, which included hair loss, mouth sores, many hospitalizations, blood transfusions, more than two dozen spinal taps, and countless ER trips. Our lives were forever changed with this experience. Today Carter is a healthy 12 year old who is loving life. Our faith, and especially Carter’s faith grew tremendously through this journey.
When Carter finished treatment, we felt another tug on our hearts that we were being called to adopt again. If you ask us how we got from that tug on our hearts to our journey to Colombia, I’m not sure we even know that answer. God worked out the details and we quickly fell in love with three biological siblings who were waiting for a family in Colombia. Brian spoke Spanish, which we knew would help tremendously. In July of 2017, we brought home Camila (11), Cate (9), and Cason (5). These kiddos are absolutely incredible, and have bonded so quickly with our family. My heart is blessed by them every single day.
Here’s where the story gets crazy. :) A few months ago as I scrolled through Facebook, I saw a listing for a little girl in Colombia that was waiting for a family. Each time I see the face of an orphan, my heart aches, but this time there was more to the ache. This little girl had been diagnosed with leukemia, the same cancer that Carter had. Not only had she gone through treatment once, but after going through over two years of treatment the first time, she relapsed. Today, she is 9 years old. She has now finished her second time of chemotherapy and is currently in remission. Though she appears to be doing well, her labs indicate that she continues to have some problems, and her blood cell counts are not recovering as they should. This little gal needs to be seen by oncologists in the United States, and needs a family to walk this journey, whatever it may entail, with her.
Though we had no intention to adopt again so quickly, and it doesn’t necessarily make worldly sense for our family to do this, we have prayed and prayed. We sought guidance from friends, family, our adoption agency, our oncology team, and our children. Through some amazing details along the way, we felt peace to start the journey, and we have decided that she belongs in our family.
Financially, this is a huge endeavor. Each adoption from Colombia is estimated to be about $40,000 if only two parents travel. We certainly exceeded that amount for our last adoption, and with it being so recent, we haven’t quite recovered. We are asking for your help in this. No child deserves to go through chemotherapy and hospitalizations without a family by her side. My heart breaks as I picture what Carter has gone through, and then imagine her doing it without a mom and dad at her side. Due to her current medical status, we, along with our agency, are attempting to have this process expedited. We anticipate it to move rapidly, and we already have fees due right now. Please pray about helping us bring her home quickly, and please share this with anyone that you think would consider helping. We don’t know what her future holds, but we want her to experience whatever that may be in a loving family that will stay by her side forever
