A mother of sixty three children (sixty one adopted) writes about how her International Family came into being by the Miracle of special needs adoption.
This is the first part of a brand new series starring the Sandusky Family. Enjoy!
*PART ONE: HOW THE FAMILY GOT STARTED*
CHAPTER ONE~
I. The Beginning--Wanting A Family (Again):
If I knew back then if I was to be a parent to over forty children, I would have called myself crazy. Neither I or my husband, Bill, had no inkling about what was about to take place after the death of our third (natural) child*--none whatsoever.
We figured we'd spend the rest of our married lives childless. Somehow we felt we weren't meant to have children.
Howver, God had plans, big plans, for us, unbeknownst to us. Little did we think of the role He would play in our lives.
It was God who brought us the children, children nobody else wanted, children with seemingly hopeless futures or handicaps, children who were deemed "unadoptable" by most standards.
Yet God knew we wanted a family, so He answered our prayers by bringing us a beautiful little tow-headed baby boy from Germany, then a week later, a bright-eyed Cajun beauty from Louisiana.
II. Johnny And Ronee' Arrive:
The arrivals of Johnny and Ronee' made us an instant family. From no children to two, we were now a bona-fide family.
Our dreams of having children finally came true .
Johnny and Ronee' were beautiful beyond compare; however, I was not ready to handle their medical needs. Both Johnny and Ronee' were born premature, and Ronee' 's severe respiratory problems made for a terrifying ordeal. It seemed that we were rushing her to the emergency room every week for her breathing.
Johnny had breathing problems too, but oxygen and medication got him through with little problem. Despite his slight size, he was a most scrappy little fellow, with an insatiable will to live. Somewhere in that little scrawny body beat the heart of a champion.
III. Life With Children:
We were more than ready to give Johnathon and Ronee' the love that they so desperately needed. They grew from sickly little infants to curious little toddlers who soaked in the world around them.
Ronee' was particularly curious; plus she showed signs of being gifted. While her brother was still trying to stand up on wobbly legs, Ronee' was cruising like a little cheetah, and she was already saying several words: "Mama", "Daddy", "Bubber" (her word for "Johnny"), "H'wo", "Bah-Bye".
Even though they had their (medical) challenges, we reveled in being parents to these wonderful little human beings. They brought us much in the way of joy, more than you could ever imagine.
When Johnny was learning how to walk, he seemed to have a lot of difficulty: he fell often, especially when negotiating stairs. It scared us, so we took him to the pediatrician, to see if we could find out anything.
IV. Bad News!:
The pediatrician examined Johnny from head-to-foot, assured us that all was fine; however when Johnny continued to fall, he became concerned; he suggested that we see a specialist who worked with patients with neuromuscular diseases because he suspected that Johnathon had something going on with his muscles.
How we wished that the diagnosis was wrong!
How we wished that we could take Johnny from all of these tests, all these doctor appointments!
It wasn't long before the little boy became terrified at the mere sight of a doctor in a white coat: no matter how nice the doctor tried to be to Johnny, Johnny howled through the entire ordeal, thus, setting our nerves on edge.
A week later, we got the devastating news. Johnny had the first signs of Duchenne muscular dystrophy; the blood workups confirmed it. At the news we cried, especially when the doctor gently but firmly told us that he didn't expect Johnny to live beyond the age of five.
*The story of our three natural children will come later on in a future chapter.
The word unadoptable leaves a bad taste in my mouth, that word should be banish from the books because put a dehumanizing name to the action against them that need more love and care.
Georg
Thank you for opening our eyes to this perspective, Karen. Amour et paix, ton ami de la C-B, Canada,
Regis
Reviewed by d. k
11/29/2007
Looking forward to reading the continuation of the Sadunsky family history with each child coming into their family! A wonderful write, it speaks volumes on what parents deal with in the medical field. Well done!
An EXCELLENT write, detailing the beginning of the road of adopting "unadoptable" children, a journey full of love and compassion (interspersed with moments of terror). Very well written, looking forward to part two!
These timeless quotations culled from the celebrated corpus of writings by W.E.B. Du Bois are presented with illuminating introductory essays by Aberjhani. Narration of the Audible book performed by Catherine Byers.
In "A Touch of Your Presence" are words that would inspire, encourage and strengthen one's soul when faced with challenges and difficulties and to know the awesomeness of God's power.
