For the dads out there...guest post from this dad.

How it all began for me...

Most of you know the story of how we got to this point in our adventure. You have heard Steph’s story. I kinda stayed back and watched as things happened.

Ralph was born and it changed our whole way of thinking and our way of seeing people with special needs. I have a cousin who is almost 30 now that has Down Syndrome, so I was no stranger to it. We have a friend whose daughter has DS and she is over 40 now. But to have a son who has DS, we would never imagined. When the midwife told us that Ralphie had DS, we both looked at each other and said what a blessing! That was pretty much our reaction to have God give us a gift like Ralph, to trust us to care for him and bring him up in God’s word.

Well, my loving wife being who she is, started researching and learning all she could about Down Syndrome and Pulmonary Hypertension. How common it is, what it is, how to teach and give them all the advantages of learning. Well it was during this research that she found a website called Reece’s Rainbow. It is a group that helps children with special needs around the world find forever families that will love them and raise them. Not only do these kids have DS, but all sorts of health issues, disabilities, fetal alcohol syndrome, HIV. You name it they have it. I guess in some countries, when a child is born with a disability they are taken from their parents and put into an orphanage or institution of some sort. They would be a burden on society and are no good to society. How sad is that? Stephanie started raising money for these kids and being a great advocate for RR.

It must have been sometime before Ruby was born that she came to me and asked if we could maybe adopt a child on RR one day. I pretty much just blew her off and said, uh yeah, well maybe. I don’t know...you know we have 9 of our own now. She just went about her business and left me alone. She would show me kids all the time. Lets see there was Maxim, Charley, Igor, Anystasia, and many, many more. I felt for these kids, wished someone would adopt them. She would drop hints every now and then that she sure wished she could adopt one of these kids. Stephanie was never pushy, she would just show me a new kid, send me a link to read about this family or that family adopting a child or 2 or 3 in some cases.

Little did I know that God was working on my heart as well! As Stephanie was showing me pictures of children, God was opening my eyes. Things were good, good job, great home. He was saying to me, look you have everything you can possibly need. You need to sit down with your wife and really look into this adoption. I struggled with it, I knew what I was being led to do. but like so many of us we fight it, hold out, go against what we are supposed to do. Then one night I was out of town for work, when she sent me a picture of “Alec”. What a cute kid, in danger of being transferred to an institution for the rest of his soon to be short life. I prayed for guidance and clarity, wisdom. I had just gone to a seminar put on by Fred Stoeker, and he talked about having oneness with your wife and what it meant to have that and what it took to have it. The sacrifices one has to make to have that kind of relationship with your spouse. I knew what I had to do!

It was Stephanie’s birthday when I got home, so I took her out to eat. We were enjoying our dinner and conversation when I said look, I know you have been asking me about adopting a child from Ukraine. Well, I said, what will it take to get it done? If this is what you really want and what you feel led to do then let’s get it done! Oh, by the way Happy Birthday! Well that was how Alec came to be part of our family.

That was one addition, but how did we end up with Zhen too? She was looking at a picture of Alec when I came home from work one Friday and she said this is the one we are going to commit to. And I said ok, oh wait, who is that little guy, the picture above Alec’s? She said oh that is Zhenya, he is in the same orphanage as Alec. I said he is a handsome little guy. Then I laughed and said you know what is going to happen? We are going to get over there and we will end up bringing him home too, and walked out of the room. I came home Monday from working and she said ok, it is done...I just committed to Alec and Zhenya! I don’t remember what my first reaction was, but ok, so now we bring home two! (editorial comment from Stephanie - actually James gave me the OK to commit to Zhenya as well on Valentines Day. I'll never forget it!)

And this is where we are at today. My loving, caring wife is half way around the world with my oldest son by her side, in the final stages of bringing home our babies! Theodore Honor and Zhen Ezekiel Nance! Hurry home guys, the rest of the family wants their turn to play with you and show you the love you deserve!