Zoe’s Story

The short version: We learned about Reece’s Rainbow through some friends, prayed about what to do and six months later God led us to commit to bring sweet Zoe home to be an Imboden!  She turned 4 in November and is from Ukraine.  Her first language is Russian.  She has Down Syndrome and is certainly every bit of adorable!  She came home in December of 2010!

The more-detailed version: Adoption has always been on our hearts, and we both felt that we would adopt someday.  We imagined that we would adopt an older child when our kids were older, since there are so many children in the foster care system who need homes.  Many teenagers want a place to call home, a supportive family to call their own for life and a place to come home to on college breaks and for Christmas.  It wasn’t until we attended the memorial service of our friend, Derek Loux, and learned about the specific challenges faced by children in certain countries with special needs who aren’t adopted that we felt it was time to move ahead with adoption now.

The first pic of Zoe we saw...plus barrettes.

 

On the way home from that memorial service, we decided we were on the adoption road already.  We did want to grow our family, but we didn’t feel the need to have any more biological children.  When we got home, I started “just looking” to see exactly how complicated and how expensive an adoption would be.  I decided the best way to find out would be to start the process and see how far we got before we were overwhelmed enough to quit.

We also began researching the plight of orphans with special needs in E. Europe and praying for the kids listed on Reece’s Rainbow, a ministry that lists and facilitates the adoption of children with Down Syndrome or other special needs.   We found a 3-year-old boy with DS that moved our hearts to begin our home study process. By the time we felt ready to commit to bring him home, we learned that he had received a family the day before.  With our home study completed, Marc and I began praying for which child God had lined up for our family.  Marc immediately felt that it was Zoe.  I was not as convinced.  So again, we decided to commit to a 5-year-old boy with FAS, only to learn that he had received a family the day before.  God was at work in leading us back to Zoe!

All through the spring of 2010, when I would take the kids to the zoo, we inevitably ended up sitting by or strolling all day by a family who had a child with Down Syndrome.   Slowly, God worked on healing my heart from the pains of “losing” the boys we loved and leading us to a perfect time to commit to Zoe.  I knew it was almost time, when one day I was sorting through a whole tote of 4T girl clothes that a friend had given us.  The clothes were too small for Hattie, but I hung on to them, carefully sorting them according to what would look good on Zoe.  In one weekend, we attended a graduation open house where the family dog’s name was Zoe, the pastor preached on “zoe” versus “bios” life (a full, satisfied life provided by God versus a life lived to satisfy self) and then we attended another graduation open house where I was able to read an essay that the graduate had written about her relationship with her sister with DS.  It read something like, “You held me after my first heartbreak.  You had the touch that could soothe my soul.”

At this point, our adoption path had been anything but straightforward, though in ways it had been a very direct path.  God was using this journey to grow us in ways we couldn’t have predicted.   Someone passed on to me that, “God can reward a decision made in faith, but He doesn’t reward indecision.”  Until I processed that, I couldn’t make sense of why God would provide families for the boys we felt ready to bring home.    We were making a decision in complete faith, and God can do something with that.  He used those decisions to lead us and to provide families for those boys. Even now, we know that we decided to bring Zoe home in faith.  We believe this is the step God was asking us to take and we trust Him.  If He would have decided to provide another family for Zoe through some unforeseen means, we would’ve trusted Him in that.  We only know that this is what we were called to do now, and we are overjoyed at His love for us – that He would move us to bring a child of His to be a child of ours for a time -  a child that we can guide to know and love Him!

The Imboden children are very excited that Zoe is now home, though Nash has pointed out that (including the dog, Gaby) the females now outnumber the males.  God has made it clear that we are called to care for the fatherless and the widow.  We are honored to now be the proud parents of sweet, adorable Zoe!   She has been welcomed home with tons of hugs and kisses from her brothers and sister, family and friends and is adjusting to her new role as an Imboden with a large measure of charm and grace!

We would like to thank the entire Loux family for living lives that honor God’s heart for the orphan and for leading the way.  We praise God for you!!  If you haven’t already, you need to read the Loux Family Blog.  You will be amazed, I promise!  Make sure you check out The Orphan Justice Center and find out ways to support their mission to rescue, adopt and restore orphans!

We also are giving mad props to Andrea Roberts, the mom who founded Reece’s Rainbow, an organization that promotes and facilitates the adoption of children with Down Syndrome other special needs.  We encourage you to visit Reece’s Rainbow today to begin praying for one of these sweet angels.  We enjoy printing off photos for the fridge and praying for these kids as a family… and we greatly enjoy rejoicing for them when a family finds them!  If you doubt the amount of saving love going on in the world, you need to check out the and read about “My Family Found Me” page and read about these adopting families here.  It is our family’s prayer that this one adoption will fuel many others and we continue to pray our many favorite RR kids to find families, as well as for our many favorite families to find kids. If you are open to considering adoption or feel that a child is placed on your heart, we invite you to join us on this journey and take a leap of faith! If you are not at a place where you are able to consider adopting, we ask that you consider choosing an adopting family to support.

If you cannot adopt, but would like to support adoption you can make donations to specific children and families through Reece’s Rainbow (tax-deductible).  You can also advocate for a child on Facebook – RR has made it so VERY easy!    Also, we will have a children’s CD available soon, “Wooden Spoon”.  All proceeds from this CD will be donated Reece’s Rainbow.  Thank you for supporting our adoption journey!

From facing a future without hope...

...to finding a family! Praise God!