Discouraged, but pressing on.....

The announcement of our plans to adopt these two precious special needs children rendered surprising results for us. Many friends and family very near and dear to us were less than supportive. They could not understand WHY..... why would we want to burden ourselves.... why do we want more children.... why children with Down Syndrome? Some questioned whether or not we had thought this through and others just haven't spoken to us since they found out. We were shocked by their response and non-response. We respect their opinions, but that doesn't make it hurt any less. At the time when we need the most support, the support is lacking......

Perhaps God is simply showing us that He is our provider and He is our support. As much as we would like to have all of our loved ones on our side, deep down inside, we know that it is God who is our refuge and our strength (Psalm 46:1). So we press on and give grace to those who don't understand what we're doing or why we're doing it. We press on to bring our girls home and show them the love they so desperately need. We press on with complete faith and trust that God is in control.

Who of you by worrying........

In Matthew 6:27 Jesus says, "who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?" The words are so powerful, but the application is often difficult. After committing to adopt the girls, we discovered that Vanessa's medical conditions were pretty serious. In reading her medical records, we found many conditions that we were unfamiliar with...... retinal angiopathy, PFO, congenital hypotheriosis, and so on and so on. As we researched these conditions on the trusty Internet, we discovered how serious they could be. Vanessa would need immediate surgery for one condition and would likely become blind from another. Each condition we looked up looked like bad news and for a second...... for the first time...... we started to worry about our commitment. Were we doing the right thing? Are we prepared to raise a child who is blind? Did we make our decision too quickly? I'm embarrassed to admit that we started to doubt.......


Then we thought about all of those children with Down Syndrome who's parents never gave them a chance. The pregnancies that are terminated before the child took it's first breath. We committed to adopt Elisa and Vanessa and that is no different than finding out you are pregnant..... we just happen to be pregnant with children who are a little bit older. We are in the first trimester and the doctors gave us some bad news..... but they are still our children..... our gifts from God.


After renewing our commitment and getting past this weak moment, a friend gave us a website where doctors would review your child's medical records and give you a report on what those conditions meant.... in layman terms. We received the report for Vanessa this weekend and it was amazing! Not only were the conditions not as serious as we had thought, but we were also told of how common it was for these children to be misdiagnosed. God is soooo good! "Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life?" What great words and what a blessing to live by those words.

The Journey Begins Here

Six months ago our friends from church informed us that they were adopting a sweet baby girl from Eastern Europe. At first when we were asked about going on this journey with them we hesitated. You see, we had gone down this road before. We have adopted 3 children from San Antonio's foster care system. I guess at this time we only thought of our fears and whether or not we could possibly adopt more children when we already had so many. We had so many questions..... Could we handle it? How would our other children react? Is it fair to them to bring more children into our house?


After thinking about this for some time we were approached again. This time our friends had pictures of their sweet baby. This made it so real for us. Now however, there was a new story. The child they were adopting had a roommate at the orphanage named Elisa who was at risk of being sent away to an institute if she did not find a home soon. You see, Elisa and the others in her orphanage have Down Syndrome and if they are not adopted, they get sent away....... no medical attention, no one to hold them, and no one to LOVE them. They are sent away with NO HOPE.


I can't explain the first moment we saw her. It was as if she had become our child at that moment. It was really no different from seeing your own child being born at the hospital. The only difference is when we reached out to hold her, she was so far away.

Our hearts melted as we committed to adopt her right away. We never thought of the amount of money to be raised, or how it would be done. We knew God would provide for this. We never thought again about having too many children even though EVERYONE tells us we do. Again, we knew if this was God's will, it would be done. As we started to look at more of Elisa's pictures we found another darling baby girl who we fell in love with. So yes, we are adopting 2 baby girls from Eastern Europe...... both with Down Syndrome. Within the next six months, we will have 9 kids under the age of 11 in our home.

To many people we are crazy, and not the typical family. However, we know that what we're doing is right, and that this is God's plan for us. We feel truly blessed to have the opportunity to adopt again. We are a large family, but we are a happy family, and most of all,,,,,, a family full of LOVE. This journey will be long and hard, it will be expensive and there will be sacrifices, but it's all worth it. Thanks for reading this and joining us in our new adoption journey.


God Bless,
The Beasley's