The room was plain: Blank, white walls; a silver table; a silver cart, a series of silver instruments laid out across the top. Melissa’s head rolled back and forth and she caught her reflection on one of the silver surfaces. Then she heard a voice: “Get up,” it said. “It’s not too late.” “I’m sitting […]
The unexpected phone call came on the Feast of the Epiphany in 2018. A pregnant mother was making an adoption plan for her baby. She had some very specific hopes in mind for the potential adoptive parents. Catholic writer Emily Stimpson Chapman and her husband, Chris, fit the bill perfectly. But had they made any
3 Babies In 3 Years: Catholic Writer and Husband’s “Rollercoaster” Adoption Journey Read More »
To this day, Travis remembers that night. In a drunken rage, his birth mother had told him the truth. The revelation quickly escalated into a physical fight between Travis’s birth mother and uncle. “You should never have told that kid that!” Travis’s uncle told her. But that wasn’t the last time Travis would hear about
Travis was ten years old when he learned how close he came to being aborted. Read More »
Jody Stayer was working with orphans in Romania when she heard God’s calling to adopt. It was just over a decade after the communist reign of dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu had come to an end. But the child welfare crisis that plagued the country during his rule still persisted. At the end of 1989, when the
Following Miscarriage, Couple Adopts 8 Children. Family Continues to Grow. Read More »
When Jackie Appleman became a certified foster care parent about seven years ago, she had no intention of adopting. But five years in, she met Jessica and all of her plans went out the window. It was 2 A.M. on a spring night in 2019. Jackie had been woken up by a call from the
Foster Mom Follows God’s Call, Adopts Even Though It Wasn’t Her Plan Read More »
Some of Tori Hope Petersen’s earliest memories involve being trained not to talk to the police. “When I was just four, I was convinced cops were bad people who only wanted to rip families apart, beat people up for fun, & put people in jail for no reason,” she wrote in an Instagram post last
Christian Foster Youth Advocate Wins Mrs. Universe 2022 Read More »
It was a cold night in February of 1983 when 17-year-old Kelly Williams got out of bed and drove to her Catholic parish in Northeast Ohio. Lake-effect snow drifted around her in the dark as she pulled into the parking lot and set her restless eyes on the parish’s new outdoor shrine for the Virgin
How One Indiana Woman Chose Life and Found Redemption Through Her Blended Family Read More »
Abby and Doug Johnson’s youngest child was just 6 months old when Abby received a phone call from her best friend who lived in Maryland. Her friend, a sign language interpreter, had an unexpected proposal for Abby. “She said, ‘Look, I know this is crazy, but I just have to ask if you guys would
Jennifer Melgoza was out delivering mail in October of 2019 when her phone rang. Seeing the number flashing on her phone, she knew it was the Indiana Department of Child Services. “Oh my God,” she thought. “It’s DCS again.” She quickly pulled over her mail truck to answer the call. That’s when she learned the
Couple Adopts Baby from Safe Haven Baby Box after Years of Infertility Read More »
When Monica Kelsey was just eight weeks old, she was lovingly adopted and raised by a Christian family in Paulding, Ohio. Up until the time she was 37 years old, she had a fairly straight-forward understanding of the circumstances of her adoption: Her biological parents had loved her, but were young and couldn’t care for
She Was Abandoned as a Newborn. Read More »