Closure...

It's time for this blog to have some closure. It was made to chronicle our journey of Bringing Kellsey Home... and that journey is now complete. She is home, with her family. Where she should be. Exactly one year ago today I wrote this post on our family blog announcing our decision to adopt. It was not a decision made lightly or hastily. Many of you have asked throughout our journey how we came to the decision to adopt or how we came to choose Kellsey specifically, so I thought today would be a good time to share our story.

We actually first noticed Kellsey (then called Victoria) when she was listed on Reece's Rainbow as a baby.

At the time a couple friends of ours were adopting through Reece's Rainbow. They already had a child of their own with Down syndrome and we thought, "WOW!" So in browsing the site, we found this beautiful little baby and I thought, "Ohhh she is SO cute!" And Victoria instantly became my favorite. I watched closely to see if her "forever family" would find her. We began to pray for her daily.

Over time we watched more and more of our friends commit to adopt one or more kids with Down syndrome from other countries. We followed them closely. We prayed for them. We helped them financially when we could. We learned more about what happened to these beautiful children when they turned 5. We learned that they would be transferred to an institution on their 5th birthday where they would die within a year. And our hearts broke.

Then we received an updated picture of Victoria...


I sent the picture to Frank, who was in Afghanistan at the time, and he immediately said, "She needs to be part of our family." I immediately replied with, "You're CRAZY!" HA! We had 4 kids, one who not only has Down syndrome but has been through a lot medically. Fear overwhelmed me. What if Kennedy's leukemia returned? What if we brought Victoria home and she got Leukemia? And Frank said, "God's taken care of us so far, don't you think He'd take care of us still?" And so we committed to PRAY. We weighed pros and cons. We talked to close friends and family who were both for and against the idea. We asked them all to pray as well. I prayed that God would ease my fears and make His will clear... and I followed the journeys of our friends who were bringing their new children home very closely.

A few months later, I started promoting Reece's Rainbow and their plight on our family blog, bringing awareness, and getting our family and friends comfortable with the thought of adoption. I posted about other family's homecomings. All the while we were talking closely with Andrea Roberts and learning more about Victoria and what it would take to bring Victoria home. We prayed hard. We shed tears as we tried to seek out God's will for our lives and for Victoria's life.

Finally we talked to Kassidy and Kameron. We had already decided that if they were not 100% on board with this decision that we would NOT adopt. They are part of our family and have been through so much already. If they had reservations or fears about bringing another sibling into their lives, then that would be that. We talked to them about Reece's Rainbow and showed them the Angel tree. We told them that RR tries to find families for these kids who have no families. And then we showed them Victoria's picture. They thought she was so sweet and looked a lot like Kennedy. We asked what they would think about bringing Victoria to live here with us and explained that she has Down syndrome, like Kennedy does, and would need some extra help and therapy and time. Kassidy said that Down syndrome is what makes Kennedy so special and Kameron asked if we could get a boy too! HA! They were both instantly on board and very excited!

I was still dragging my feet however. Here was God, tugging at my heart, my husband and kids were on board, but my mind was working overtime on the "what ifs". Finally, God clearly spoke to me that I HAD to trust HIM, and on Thanksgiving night we took the leap of faith and committed to bring Victoria into our family. And Andrea said, "FINALLY!" HA! We still kept it under wraps for a little while until we were able to tell our family either in person or over the phone and then, one year ago today we went public and this blog was born.

Throughout the process I had moments of complete peace and moments of complete panic about our adoption... about adding another child to our family... about adding another child with special needs to our family. I would worry, God would calm me, and eventually my human side would take over and I would worry again! LOL Mostly though I felt extreme peace that we were absolutely doing what God had called us to do and that Kellsey belonged HOME with us.


And now, here she is... She has a daddy and mommy who love her and two brothers and sisters to run around with and cause trouble! haha Having only been home for two weeks, we are still learning about her, and she is still learning about us. It hasn't been perfect, but it's been amazing and way easier than I thought it was going to be. I know there will be hard days, but nothing worth it is ever easy. We are SO thankful that God called us to bring her home. We look forward to seeing her thrive surrounded by love and chaos and lots and lots of toys. We look forward to teaching her about the love of the Lord and how He brought her home to us. Such a perfect gift, the completion to our family, just in time for Christmas.

Thank you to everyone who has walked our adoption journey with us... the ups and downs, the frustrations and joys and tears and waiting, waiting, waiting. We hope that you will all stick around and continue to follow Life With My Special Ks.