Bettina Guyllenhaal is my name. I live in Pryor, Oklahoma, with my husband, Chuck, and our eight kids: Jedediah Paul (18); Esther Grace (16); Ruth Ann (14); Tirzah Michaela (12); Ryan Benjamin (10); Michael William (8); Precious Miracle (7); and last (but never least!), Uriah Matthew (4). I work for the Pryor school district; my husband, meanwhile, is a homeschool teacher (and full-time dad!).
Our kids are all adopted. I am sure you can figure this out once you see them. That's okay. We loved them enough to take them in as our own, and we haven't regretted it one bit! We adopted our first two (Jedediah and Esther) ten years ago, when they were only little kids of eight and six); the others just sort of followed behind. :) We adopted them from the USA (Jedediah, Esther, Ryan, and Precious), Korea (Ruth Ann), Africa (Tirzah and Uriah), and Russia (Michael).
I guess you can also figure out that all are disabled. That's okay, too. I want people to learn to look beyond wheelchairs, braces, crutches, or other aids to help them get around or live a more normal, fulfilling life. To us, they are nothing more than kids who need love, nurturing, food, shelter, and support from a world who doesn't understand.
When I am not home, Chuck is. We also have nurses come in to help with some of the more seriously disabled ones (Precious, Uriah, and Ryan). That way, if they have a problem, Chuck or the nurses can help them right away. I feel safer knowing that Chuck and our in-home nurses are there to help whenever it is needed; I also can leave the house to go to work or do errands, so I can get a much-deserved break.
At first, adopting kids with special needs seemed overwhelming: we didn't know what we were getting ourselves into, but as we learned about each child's condition or illness, we became more comfortable with dealing with any crisis that occurred. While crises are still pretty scary at times, we are now able to deal with them calmly and efficiently, and besides, our nurse-friends are here to provide the care that we can't.
Precious and Uriah have severe cerebral palsy that has left them unable to walk or talk (plus Precious is blind); they require twenty-four hour care, as does Ryan, who is severely autistic. He can walk, but he cannot talk, and he needs a lot of help trying to navigate his way in a world not accomodating to his particular special needs.
Tirzah has spina bifida which causes her to use a wheelchair (or crutches for short distances); as for Jedediah, he is deaf and mute. Meanwhile, Esther has Down syndrome, while Ruth Ann has JRA (she walks with crutches, too, and is often in severe pain, especially when her arthritis is flaring up).
Finally, Michael has a rare form of dwarfism: even though he is eight, he is no bigger than a two-year-old toddler. He also has albinism (pale, pale skin, white hair, extremely light-blue eyes that are sensitive to bright lights; when outdoors, he has to wear very thick, dark sunglasses to cut out the light, or it will hurt his eyes).
They are all great kids; now that Christmas break has started in earnest, they are enjoying their time off from school. They can sleep in, play to their hearts' content (or annoy the flop out of one another, much to their daddy's and my chagrin! LOL), and dream Christmas dreams of all the goodies that Santa Claus is bringing them.
I often remind them that Jesus is the reason for the season; we bake a birthday cake in His honor, and we sing to Him. The kids love it! They also enjoy taking part in our church's annual Cantata each year; now the little ones are taking part, and it is a new and exciting adventure for them!
If I could recommend adoption to anyone, I would, in a heartbeat. Adoption has been nothing but a blessing in our lives; if it were not for our God in Heaven, we would not have the children we do. Chuck and I would still be childless. Now we have a full house, and we haven't regretted it one bit! He meant for us to have these children, and so, as a result, through the miracle of adoption, we became an instant family.
The question remains whether we will adopt again. Only God knows the answer to that question. We're just ready to do whatever He commands.
We got into adoption, thanks to a friend of ours online. She runs an adoption community from Tennessee, where she lives, and when we heard her story (and read one of her books), we were led by the Holy Spirit to pursue special-needs adoption. Now we have kids. Oh, boy, do we ever!! LOL
She was the one who sent us literature about adoption of children with special needs, and she was the one who got the ball rolling. We haven't looked back.
She still checks up on us, to see how we are doing. She sends us a Christmas card (as well as a newsletter), as well as pictures of her family. They have really grown (in more ways than one LOL)! They now have sixty plus children!!
Well, Uriah is crying (as are Ryan and Precious), so I must tend to them. They wake up at about this time every morning; it's rare if they sleep in after six or seven. I will write in here again; until then, this is Bettina Guyllenhaal saying so long, God bless, and merry Christmas to each and every one of you! We are certainly having a most wonderful Christmas season, especially since Uriah came to us last year! He's been nothing but a little blessing in our lives!
~Love, your new friend in Oklahoma, Bettina. :)
