Adoption Series 2014-- The Klein's - Part 1

Today and two more days this week we are spending time with the Klein's.  They are a family that have two biological children and have adopted four more children.  Their family is a loving mixture of goodness I must say!  You will get to hear about their adoptions and their relationship with Stevie, one of the birthmother's.  Stevie was courageous to share her story.  Help me welcome them!  

It has been about ten years now since our lives were changed by adoption.  In that time we have gone from being a family of four to a family of eight.  We have learned more about trusting God and we have learned that family is more than just who we are related to by blood.  We have grown in number and we have grown in love.  While it hasn't always been easy, it has always been a blessing.

We had two children biologically when we were in our early 20s—a boy and a girl.  Young and selfish as we were, we made a permanent decision to have no more children.  This all seemed fine until we started growing in our faith and thus in our perception of the value of children.  For a couple years we were inundated with a longing for more children and with teachings on the blessing of children.  As we got more involved in speaking out against abortion, we realized we couldn't encourage women to choose life for their unborn children without being willing to open our hearts and home to those children through adoption.

We started taking foster-to-adopt classes in the Spring of 2005, but decided against adopting through the state for several reasons which I won't go into here other than to say it just didn't seem the best option for our family.  Instead, we chose to register with Christian Family Services of the Midwest in Overland Park, KS in August of 2005.

This was a busy season of prayer, preparation, and self-education as we read books and articles and began the mountain of home study paperwork (at which I am now a pro!).  We also faced the daunting task of writing a letter to prospective birthmothers and preparing a book to introduce our family so those women considering an adoption plan for their babies could choose the family to love him or her.  We have been blessed by this concept of open adoption and sincerely believe it to be good for all members of the adoption triad:  the birthparents, the adoptee, and the adoptive parents.

After a few false starts and what felt like forever (but was really only nine months) we received the call.  A mother of a three-week old baby boy would like to meet us, could we be in Kansas City (a 3 ½ hour drive) by 6 pm?  Of course we said yes and were thrilled to meet her.  Her hopes and dreams for Easton were that he would “learn to be responsible, have a good work ethic, and to be a man of integrity.”

We fell instantly in love with this precious, even-tempered little bundle of joy and were able to bring him home a mere three days later.  We had held to the promise in Psalm 37:4-5, “Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.  Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him and He will do this,” and we were blessed by his addition to our family.

Since we had two children who were significantly older, we hoped to be able to adopt at least once more so Easton would have a brother or sister closer in age to grow up with so we started praying about beginning the process again when he was about nine months old.  We received our answer “yes” when an anonymous gift came in the mail wanting to help with adoption expenses (which we had already paid off) in the exact amount we needed to update our home study.

Our home study was completed in July of 2007 and we expected another nine-month (or more—the average is two years) wait, but the end of September we were asked to travel about six hours to meet an expectant woman who liked our profile and wanted to meet us.   She got to meet our other three children on Saturday, then my husband and I joined her and her friend for supper that night.  She told us she wanted us to be the family to raise her baby, and then we prepared to travel back home on Sunday afternoon.  Instead, her tiny baby girl was born Sunday morning!

They kept Kiana Jayde (we chose her first name and adapted her birthmother's choice of “Jayden” for the middle name) in the hospital a couple extra days as they wanted her to weigh five pounds before dismissal.  This was a difficult time for all of us involved.  Her birthmother was spending every minute with her, storing up memories for the future and showering her with love.  When it came time to sign the relinquishment papers, she just couldn't do it. 

My husband and I went to our car and prayed and cried.  While we had fallen in love with Kiana, we had also developed a relationship with her mother and we genuinely wanted what was best for everyone involved.  After much debate and many tears, she decided completing her adoption plan was truly the best option for her precious little girl.  We have been so blessed by Kiana, who is a tender-hearted, vivacious and dramatic little lady,  and adopting her has also afforded us the opportunity to love her birthfamily who have become extended members of our family.

There is more to the Klein's story so be sure to check back Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday!  We wanted to make this week about Stevie and the Klein's!  This family has opened their home to grow their family, they are a wonderful example of loving others.  

They also have a blog that they share so much at! Be sure to go show some love to them over there!

Learning How Much I Don't Know

Thanks for stopping by!
Julie



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