MARLY for the Davis family--

Eric and Tammy adopted a child from Russia 5 years ago. They were moved to adopt again

more recently and brought home Sophie and Benjamin from Ukraine. While on their

Jim & Melissa Gower are in the process of adopting precious little Mina.   They are blessed with a little girl, Myla, who will be 2 in June.  Melissa has always had a mindset on one day she wanted to adopt.  She recalls being 15- 16 years old on a mission trip to Mexico going to an orphanage and attaching to a little girl and wishing she could bring her home.  Then at 18 going to Africa and holding babies and having them ask her to take their child home with her so they could have a better chance at life.  Although she wished she could- she had to explain to them that it didn't work that way.  She always had a heart for special needs children and loved to help out in school and help with special olympics events.  Aslo the beginning of this year she contacted the special olympics to get back involved with them in volunteering, and little did she know at that time that God would lay on their heart adopting a child with special needs.  Jim has an older adopted sister, so he always had in the back of his mind maybe one day adopting.  They also have two special needs neices.  A couple months back Jim asked Melissa randomly what she thought about adopting and that they should pray about possibly doing that one day.

Well months went by and it was just mentioned a couple times in passing- nothing in depth.  The beginning of February Melissa was listening to the daily audio bible on her phone and heard that Ihop has an adoption program and got on google to find more information out of curiousity. Well that led to a families blog that lead to another all about adopting special needs children from Eastern Europe.  She came across the Ruslana banquet held to raise funds for another child being adopted through Reece's Rainbow and it was just two days away and happened to be just a 30 minute drive so she went.  She really felt the conviction of the Lord strongly and her heart was burning for these children.  Her husband was out of town at this time and she sent him a picture of little Mina the day before.  His response, "She is so perfect, how do we get her and when can we meet her."   Well, they feel God gave them a giant push and now was the time to begin that journey.

Since then they have started to work diligently to get all they can done and in process as quickly as possible, and their little girl walks around the house saying Mina with a picture of her.

James and Stephanie Nance have been married for 18 years and have nine children ranging in age from 11 months to 18 years. When they found out that their 8^th child, Ralphie, had Down Syndrome they knew that their lives would take an interesting turn. They spent the first 18 months of his life dealing with one medical crisis after another. While doing internet research on Down Syndrome, Stephanie came across the Reece's Rainbow website. She quickly became smitten with the beautiful faces of the children very much like her son and hooked on reading adoption blogs. As Ralphie's health improved she began to think of adopting a child with Down Syndrome. When you have nine children, what is one or two more, right?

NIKOLAI for the Miles family--Claxton, GA

Drew and Kamarie met in college while they were both obtaining degrees in Christian Studies. They were married during their senior yr of college and have been married now for 5 1/2 yrs. They have 2 sons, Lane is 4 and Hudson is 18 months. Drew works as the manager of a Christian Family Medical Practice and is in seminary part-time. Kamarie left the life of a Starbucks manager to stay at home with their two boys and she is loving it. They have always known that God had adoption in store for their family because they can think of no better way to live out the Gospel than to adopt a child, just as their Heavenly Father has adopted them.

 

They sensed God leading them toward fostering and adopting children with special needs ever since their son Hudson was born with Down Syndrome, but they were not certain exactly how God was going to work out the details.  When they first learned of Reece's Rainbow they immediatley knew that this was the answer to their prayers; this is how God would help them find their missing child. Lane and Hudson are excited about having another brother and they can't wait to meet him. One day Lane heard a knock at the door and he said "Mom! I think someone is here with my new brother!" They all anxiously await the day they can bring Nikolai home from Ukraine.  

 

 

3/5/10---HOME STUDY UPDATE IN PROGRESS

  I have $353 in my  FAMILY grant fund towards the cost of my adoption! 

 

Follow the adoption journey of the Miles family on their blog at www.thepurplesparrow.com