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
Your family is very beautiful, thanks for inviting us to follow along your adoption journey.
ReplyDeleteCharissa (from Reece's Rainbow)
How wonderful that you are adopting Elisa and Vanessa! Elisa has been close to my heart for some time now, but because of geography, we could not adopt her with our son Simon, but that's okay, but she obviously was meant for YOUR family! I know many families that are very large, and you are not alone. I only have 3, Simon will make 4, and that's not very big, but each of us has our own calling and our own way in life. Don't worry that people tell you that you have too many kids - I'm sure the kids don't think so! God bless your journey. If you don't mind, I'd love to follow along on your blog. :o)
ReplyDeleteYou are in for an amazing ride! We are also in the process of adopting a ittle boy from Ukraine!
ReplyDeleteYea!! I'm glad you started a blog! DJ and I feel so blessed to know your family and are excited to become closer friends with you guys! Now, hurry up and bring these girls home!!! We are very excited for you!!
ReplyDeleteLeah and Tony, I have prayed for Elisa to have a Christian family, and here you are! What an answer to prayer! Blessings on you as you embark on this journey to your two little ones. We are in the process of adopting two 13-year-old girls!
ReplyDeleteSo awesome! What a wonderful family. We adopted a boy from Russia 3 yrs ago. i would love to go adopt again, but still have not been able to convince my husband. Thank you for letting us share your journey. The girls are precious.
ReplyDeleteThis is a lovely blog so far! Thank you for the invitation to read along. We also adopted 3 kiddos from foster care. We are now on our 2nd international adoption from Ukraine. IT will be so fun to follow your journey.
ReplyDeleteJoy