Faith to Move a Mountain

In November of 2011, I started this blog as a sort of journal to chronicle the events of our son Quinton's adoption. Quinton is a little boy who was born with an extra special something. Quinton has down syndrome and was given up at birth by his parents because he has down syndrome. His birth parents must not have had any idea what a blessing he would be or I am sure they would not have given him up. Unfortunately in Eastern Europe (Quinton is from Ukraine) people with disabilities are not accepted in society and at the age of 4-6, they are sent to adult mental institutions where most of them die :( Although it breaks my heart that his parents have missed out on such a joyful little boy, God has used this unfortunate situation to bless us with a gift greater than I could have ever imagined: the gift of our first child. If you ever considered adoption-do it! Don't let money deter you. God provided over $20,000 for us to adopt Quinton. We were not fully funded until 50 minutes before we boarded our plane to Ukraine. If you have never considered adoption, go back to the beginning of this blog and read. You will see what a blessing adoption really is. Many people tell us that we are angels for rescuing Quinton, but the honest truth is this: Quinton has given me far more that I will ever be able to give him. He is my little miracle, my silly bug, my baby boy, my love. HE IS MY LIFE!

Monday, July 4, 2011

A Little More of His Story...

When I woke up this morning, I realized that I hadn't checked my emails in a while so I logged in and saw an email from Rita (the missionary). She told me that her whole church knew about Quinton's upcoming court date and would be praying for us. Rita does lots of volunteering in the community here. She does mission work with Quinton's baby house, the local orphanage, and at the hospital. She has been in contact with a staff member at the hospital who knew Quinton when he was born. When we went for our SDA appointment to accept the referral to pursue his adoption, we were told that his family was very well to do and signed abandonment papers right away and left him at the hospital. I have been trying to get over this underlying anger toward his family for abandoning such a sweet child, but if I'm being honest-I wasn't there yet. I knew that I needed to see past that and be grateful for his family because them giving up their son allowed me to fulfill one of my lifelong dreams-to be a mommy. I knew I would get to that point someday, but I was pretty stuck at angry every time I thought about it.

This morning changed all of that. The hospital staff that Rita spoke with told her that Quinton's mother was heart broken that she had to give her baby boy up. She wanted to keep him and spent many hours with him at the hospital, but in the end was forced by her family to give him up. You see, as a whole, society here does not accept people with disabilities. They are outcasts and given up at birth. The whole time I have been here, I thought that Quinton's birth mother just gave him away like so many others, but she did not. She loved her baby boy with the same intensity that I love him now.

I hate that he had to live the first 16 months of his life laying in a playpen with no toys and no padding and no one to love him. I hate that he experienced life without hugs and kisses from his mommy and piggy back rides from his daddy. I hate that he has missed so much, but I am not angry at her anymore. My feelings are quite the opposite. I am broken-hearted for her. I have experienced the pain and sadness of infertility. There have been times when I have thought that I would do just about anything to fill the void in my heart. I have thought to myself that there must not be any worse feeling than not being able to have children. Then this morning after reading the email, I wondered what her heart must have felt like-to carry a baby for 9 months and then lose him in a matter of hours. It literally brings tears to my eyes and makes me sick to my stomach to think about it. I wish that I could meet her. I wish that I could tell her thank you for loving him in the first hours of his precious little life. I wish I could hug her and tell her that her little miracle is filling the void that I have felt for the past 4 and a half years. I wish that I could reassure her that her little boy is going to be just fine. No- he will be more that just fine. He is going to flourish and be something amazing. It has only been 2 weeks and we love him so much already. We love his smile and his laughter and we love his heart. If you get a chance, please say a prayer for Quinton's birth mother. Pray for peace for her for the decision that she made because her sacrifice gave me a precious gift-a gift that will be officially ours tomorrow!



 You know you love his purple socks with bows ;)

 We decided this upside down stuff is kinda fun LOL

 Quinton fell asleep again...

 Then we saw his nannies coming and had to wake him up in about 2 seconds flat.

He wakes up pretty happy :)



Countdown to court: 1 Day! Court is tomorrow July 5th at 4:00pm (9:00 am EST). Please pray for us as we go before the judge and proclaim our love for and commitment to Quinton. Pray for the heart of the judge and prosecutor that their hearts will be softened to our story and that when we exit that court room, we will be a family of 3! Thank you all for your donations, thoughts, kind messages, and prayers. This journey was not ours, but God's and you all had a hand in it. We were just the blessed ones that were honored enough to go before God and be His hands and feet and we can't thank you all enough for that opportunity.
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