Churchill Adoption Journey

We are pretty sure that almost all of you are already aware of our exciting news, but we wanted to take a moment and post it here too just in case anyone went off of Facebook right before we adopted Jonathan.  On October 9th, 2022, my mom met the aunt of a woman who was scheduled to give birth on October 12th and was looking to place her baby boy for adoption.  My mom happened to be at a HomeGoods store looking for a coat for her dog when she met this woman.  My mom told her about us and the aunt wanted to learn more about us, so they exchanged numbers. My mom gave us her contact information and then we called the aunt that night for more information.  What was shared with us was intimidating.  She said that the baby boy would be born a few weeks early at a very low weight and would need many weeks in the NICU.  But we believed that this was something God wanted us to say “yes” to despite all the unknowns.  We gave the aunt our adoption profile link and the link to our adoption video hoping that we would be chosen by her niece.  It definitely seemed like we would be chosen by the time Jonathan was born, but his birth mother wanted one day with him before meeting us and making her final decision.  That happened on October 13th and we will never forget our interaction with her.  We felt such a connection to her and so much love in our hearts for her and that continues to this day.  After talking for about 30 minutes or so, she asked if we wanted to meet him.  We were definitely in tears as we saw and held Jonathan for the first time.  Though he was in the NICU and had many wires and an IV attached to him, one thing that surprised us is that Jonathan weighed much more at his birth than we were expecting and he didn’t seem to be having any of the medical issues we were bracing for.  His birth mother decided that she wanted us to be the family to adopt him and told her social workers that she was ready to sign over temporary custody to us.  From that point forward, we essentially lived in the NICU learning to care for him until we were discharged a few short days later on Sunday, October 16th.  We have been caring for him in our home ever since and cherishing every moment as a family of four.  The finalization of Jonathan’s adoption is scheduled to happen sometime in Spring of 2023 and we are so excited to celebrate on that day.  He is truly everything we could have hoped for.  He is such a cute baby who is eating and sleeping so well (Midnight to 5 am pretty much every day as a 10-week-old).  He is such a cuddle bug and he loves laying on our chests and sleeping on us throughout the day.  He started smiling a week ago and that has just made him even cuter.  He is the most predictable baby you could imagine.   He only cries when he’s hungry or needs a diaper change and he always gives us a couple of minutes of cues when he’s ready to eat.  He is bringing us so much joy and has brought even deeper meaning to Thanksgiving and Christmas for us.  Evan is growing into his role as a big brother and showing more and more affection toward Jonathan every day.  We have no doubt that he is going to be an amazing big brother as they grow up together.  Thank you again so much for investing in our journey and making it possible for us to adopt.  We knew that God was calling us to do this, but the financial aspect was overwhelming.  Coming off of the enormous medical expenses related to infertility and then two miscarriages, we knew that we didn’t have the $30,000+ that it would take to adopt.  But we began to pray, applying for the matching grant from LifeSong for Orphans and getting it, and then marveled as so many of you chose to be generous with us and support this dream that God placed in our hearts.  We hope it brings you joy to know that you were a part of a miracle that would not have been possible without your help.  And we hope it is rewarding to see Jonathan grow up over the years as we post pictures of him on Facebook.  If you are not on Facebook and ever want to see pictures, shoot us an email or text and we would be happy to send some pictures to you.  Thanks again for everything – we are forever grateful!  Merry Christmas! 

Recently, a friend mentioned to us that it’s been a long time since we have posted an update regarding our adoption journey through MyStory.  They were right!  While we post about our adoption journey pretty often on Facebook, we have definitely dropped the ball posting here.  So with that in mind, here are a few updates we have posted on Facebook for those out of the loop.  Thank you so much for partnering with us on this crazy journey.  Though we are still waiting, we absolutely believe in hope that our story will have a happy ending and that we will one day have an incredible story to share with all of you!

11/25/20

We are so honored that Lifesong for Orphans chose to use Evan as part of their Thanksgiving Fundraising Campaign! https://www.instagram.com/p/CHn6xunHz_6/ We will never forget the day that we found out that we were chosen to receive a matching grant from them. We are still in awe of God for the way that he has provided for us through Lifesong for Orphans. As you can see from the link below, our adoption journey is almost completely funded! https://mystory.lifesongfororphans.org/…/churchill…/

3/5/21

We continue to wait in hope that a birth mother will see our profile and choose our family to be the one her child is raised in. A huge thanks for those willing to share this and help us get the word out about our desire to adopt!

Open Arms Adoptions

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Meet Zach & Londa. “Adoption is always something we have been open to and began researching before Evan was born. After we had Evan, we definitely found ourselves longing for another child. We began to pray about adopting a child into our family and made the decision to adopt with confidence that we are on the path we are supposed to be on.” #FamilyFriday #OAAdoptOH #InfantAdoption https://openarmsadopt.com/families/zach-londa/

 

5/4/21

 

Our adoption agency encouraged us to create a video designed to introduce our family and share our story with expectant mothers who are thinking about placing their babies for adoption. It would mean so much if you would be willing to share this and help get the word out about us and our desire to adopt!

 

https://youtu.be/Mow-yXSB-BU

https://www.facebook.com/ZachChurchillCVCA/videos/10165218654720603

 

10/11/21

 

Quick adoption update: This August, we were presented with an opportunity to adopt a baby girl with a rare chromosomal abnormality called 18Q-. After much research and prayer, we decided to allow ourselves to be considered by the birth mom and we were told that she really liked our family profile. Though we tried to protect our hearts, it really seemed like we were on the path to being chosen and meeting this baby girl on October 20th. However, today we found out that the birth mom decided to go in a different direction and focus only on adoptive couples who live closer to her in Maryland. Though our hearts are heavy with this news, we are trusting God to open up another opportunity for us and looking forward to what the future holds. #PrayersAppreciated

 

11/27/21

 

Our adoption journey has been full of twists and turns, but we are still hopeful that everything will work out for us to adopt when the time is right. Over the last three months, two adoption opportunities emerged that really seemed orchestrated by God (at least at the time), but they simply weren’t meant to be. As we continue to wait, we are grateful for our adoption agency and all they are doing to get the word out about us and our desire to adopt. A huge thanks to those who have shared our video in the past and continue to do so to help our dream of adopting become a reality!

 

12/20/21

 

We’re not going to sugar-coat it: The last three months have been a level of hard that we have never experienced before. In fact, it’s been so utterly overwhelming that getting Christmas cards out has been the last thing on our minds. But we want all of our friends and family to be assured of this: You are so deeply loved and we absolutely treasure your presence in our lives! Thank you for lifting us up in prayer as we grieved two failed adoptions and walked through unbearable heartache and loss. As many of you know, COVID-19 tore through our family and left gaping holes in our hearts. Though we mourn for the chairs that will be empty this Christmas (with Omi passing away and my Mom still in the hospital), we know that we still have so much to be grateful for. We have felt God’s love surround us and we are comforted by His promise that those who sow in tears will reap in joy. Know that you are loved and that the Churchills wish you a very Merry Christmas! May 2022 be your best and most joyful year yet!

 

If you read all the way to this point, wow, do you love us! Thanks for being on this journey with us and for lifting us up in prayer. We promise to do a better job of posting updates here for those not on Facebook. Hope you have a wonderful Christmas!

A couple months ago, Londa found an adorable little onesie that has become the design inspiration for transforming Evan’s old nursery.  As many of you know, we are hoping to adopt a newborn girl in the future and are just waiting for the call to come letting us know that we’ve been chosen.  When Londa showed me the onesie, it moved me because it immediately reminded me of something written by Charles Dickens called “A Child’s Dream of a Star.” Without realizing it at the time, she found a design inspiration that included a subtle tribute to the son and daughter we lost to miscarriage but will one day meet in Heaven.  To learn more about our adoption journey:  #LostButNotForgotten #HopeForTheFuture #ChurchillAdoptionJourney

“A Child’s Dream of a Star” by Charles Dickens

THERE was once a child, and he strolled about a good deal, and thought of a number of things. He had a sister, who was a child too, and his constant companion. These two used to wonder all day long. They wondered at the beauty of the flowers; they wondered at the height and blueness of the sky; they wondered at the depth of the bright water; they wondered at the goodness and the power of God, who made the lovely world.

They used to say to one another, sometimes, Supposing all the children upon earth were to die, would the flowers and the water and the sky be sorry? They believed they would be sorry. For, said they, the buds are the children of the flowers, and the little playful streams that gambol down the hillsides are the children of the water; and the smallest bright specks playing at hide-and-seek in the sky all night must surely be the children of the stars; and they would all be grieved to see their playmates, the children of men, no more.

There was one clear shining star that used to come out in the sky before the rest, near the church-spire, above the graves. It was larger and more beautiful, they thought, than all the others, and every night they watched for it, standing hand in hand at a window. Whoever saw it first cried out, “I see the star!” And often they cried out both together, knowing so well when it would rise and where. So they grew to be such friends with it, that, before lying down in their beds, they always looked out once again, to bid it good night; and when they were turning round to sleep, they used to say, “God bless the star!”

But while she was still very young, O, very, very young, the sister drooped, and came to be so weak that she could no longer stand in the window at night; and then the child looked sadly out by himself, and when he saw the star, turned round and said to the patient pale face on the bed, “I see the star!” And then a smile would come upon the face, and a little weak voice used to say, “God bless my brother and the star!”

And so the time came, all too soon! when the child looked out alone, and when there was no face on the bed; and when there was a little grave among the graves, not there before; and when the star made long rays down towards him, as he saw it through his tears.

Now, these rays were so bright, and they seemed to make such a shining way from earth to heaven, that when the child went to his solitary bed, he dreamed about the star; and dreamed that, lying where he was, he saw a train of people taken up that sparkling road by angels. And the star, opening, showed him a great world of light, where many more such angels waited to receive them.

All these angels, who were waiting, turned their beaming eyes upon the people who were carried up into the star; and some came out from the long rows in which they stood, and fell upon the people’s necks, and kissed them tenderly, and went away with them down avenues of light, and were so happy in their company, that, lying in his bed, he wept for joy.

But there were many angels who did not go with them, and among them one he knew. The patient face that once had lain upon the bed was glorified and radiant, but his heart found out his sister among all the host.

His sister’s angel lingered near the entrance of the star, and said to the leader among those who had brought the people thither, “Is my brother come?”

And he said, “No.”

She was turning hopefully away, when the child stretched out his arms, and cried, “O sister, I am here! Take me!” And then she turned her beaming eyes upon him, and it was night; and the star was shining into the room, making long rays down towards him as he saw it through his tears.

From that hour forth, the child looked out upon the star as on the home he was to go to, when his time should come; and he thought that he did not belong to the earth alone, but to the star too, because of his sister’s angel gone before.

There was a baby born to be a brother to the child; and while he was so little that he never yet had spoken word, he stretched his tiny form out on his bed, and died.

Again the child dreamed of the opened star, and of the company of angels, and the train of people, and the rows of angels with their beaming eyes all turned upon those people’s faces.

Said his sister’s angel to the leader, “Is my brother come?”

And he said, “Not that one, but another.”

As the child beheld his brother’s angel in her arms, he cried, “O sister, I am here! Take me!” And she turned and smiled upon him, and the star was shining.

He grew to be a young man, and was busy at his books when an old servant came to him and said, “Thy mother is no more. I bring her blessing on her darling son!”

Again at night he saw the star, and all that former company. Said his sister’s angel to the leader, “Is my brother come?”

And he said, “Thy mother!”

A mighty cry of joy went forth through all the star, because the mother was reunited to her two children. And he stretched out his arms and cried, “O mother, sister, and brother, I am here! Take me!”

And they answered him, “Not yet.” And the star was shining.

He grew to be a man, whose hair was turning gray; and he was sitting in his chair by the fireside, heavy with grief, and with his face bedewed with tears, when the star opened once again.

Said his sister’s angel to the leader, “Is my brother come?”

And he said, “Nay, but his maiden daughter.”

And the man who had been the child saw his daughter, newly lost to him, a celestial creature among those three, and he said, “My daughter’s head is on my sister’s bosom, and her arm is round my mother’s neck, and at her feet there is the baby of old time, and I can bear the parting from her, God be praised!”

And the star was shining.

Thus the child came to be an old man, and his once smooth face was wrinkled, and his steps were slow and feeble, and his back was bent. And one night as he lay upon his bed, his children standing round, he cried, as he had cried so long ago, “I see the star!”

They whispered one another, “He is dying.”

And he said, “I am. My age is falling from me like a garment, and I move towards the star as a child. And O my Father, now I thank thee that it has so often opened to receive those dear ones who await me!”

And the star was shining; and it shines upon his grave.

EXCITING ADOPTION JOURNEY UPDATE! For the last couple of months, we’ve been on the waiting list with our adoption agency. It’s kind of like we have been on the “JV” team waiting to be called up to the “Varsity” team. Now that we are officially on the “Varsity” team, our family’s profile is on our agency’s website and birth mothers will now start hearing about us as they try to decide what family they want their child to be placed with. This means that we could receive a phone call letting us know that we’ve been chosen at any time! While it is likely that we could still be waiting a long time, this is a great milestone we’ve been waiting for and we couldn’t be more excited to see how our adoption journey unfolds!

When we posted back on August 4th that God had helped us raise $11,128 on our mySTORY page through Lifesong for Orphans, we didn’t have all the information … What we didn’t realize is that a large number of people had also sent in checks, and that didn’t show up in our family adoption account until recently. So, with great joy, we are happy to announce that God has helped us raise $16,595 through Lifesong for Orphans. We are completely blown away that so many people love us enough to want to partner with us on this journey and help us get to the finish line. We were initially hoping to simply match the grant and now, by God’s grace, the entire adoption is close to being covered! We have never felt so loved in our lives or so in awe of God’s faithfulness! You have overwhelmed our hearts with so much joy!

In just SIX days, God has helped us raise the entire amount of the matching grant of $5,000 that was offered to us by Lifesong for Orphans! We have been absolutely blown away by God’s faithfulness and the generosity of so many people who have chosen to partner with us on this adoption journey. We began this journey hoping for just a little help to get to the finish line, but we have been overwhelmed by the outpouring of love that we have felt over this last week. 

A huge thanks to those who have chosen to partner with us! You have filled our hearts with so much joy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pJd2BpXflY

We will never forget what we experienced last Thursday, July 23, 2020!  While I was taking Evan out for a bike ride, I received the most amazing phone call and I couldn’t wait to go home and tell Londa.  On the way home though, I decided it would be more fun for Evan to be the one to tell Londa the good news.  We practiced what he was going to say and I decided to record it so we would never forget the incredible joy and excitement we felt that day.  Some of you may have even seen the video on Facebook and I wish I could post it here, but here’s what Evan said: “Hey Mommy, Lifesong for Orphans decided to give us a matching grant for $5,000! Cool!”  We were absolutely blown away and deeply moved that Lifesong for Orphans chose to be so generous to us.  We couldn’t help but think about Ephesians 3:20 as our hearts rejoiced with this incredible news.  He is doing more for us than we could have ever imagined and the path to the finish line for our adoption just got so much clearer.  God is so amazing and we feel so loved by Him!

Here is a link to the video of Evan preparing to share our exciting news about the $5,000 matching grant with his Mommy: https://youtu.be/4WsjaLpHdWA

For every dollar we raise, Lifesong for Orphans will match it up to $5,000!  We are still absolutely blown away that they would do this for us and so grateful to God for His provision!