Inspire, Fall 2004

28 Fall 2004 Keith and Dea Shaw Hamilton ’89 We traveled to Ukraine in May 2003 and stayed there a month before coming home empty-handed. There just aren’t words to describe that trip home or the days that followed. We switched facilitators and returned in August to adopt a beautiful, healthy, 17-month-old girl. There also aren’t words to describe what we learned about God and His love for us during those difficult weeks! Jeff ’94 and Becky Childers Cone ’94 Every child is a gift from God, but we feel as adoptive parents that we have been given an extra blessing in the way that God has used our adoptions to increase our faith and to confirm that He has a plan for not just us, but especially our children! Brennan is four and Jocelyn is 18 months, and they continue to bring us so much joy every day! They will grow up knowing their stories of how much they are loved by their birth families and the sacrifices made in placing them in our home. Cory ’88 and Andrea Snyder Neumann ’87 After our years at Cedarville, Cory went on to medical school at Ohio State. He went into private practice in Logansport, Indiana in 1995. In the same year, our first child, Kassie, was born. Our son, Landon, was born in 1996. A few years later we decided to adopt a child — someone who may not otherwise hear the gospel. ... Our goal at this point was simply to grow together as a family. We had our ideas as to how this would happen, but again, God had other plans. Yuri began to have great difficulties living with us about six months after he came home. He seemed to have the most difficulty around me, his mother. After a year and a half, things had become so difficult that Cory and I realized that he needed serious help. Yuri was on a downward spiral. We made a very difficult decision and placed Yuri at Shelterwood, a residential Christian counseling center. Tom and Maureen Zielinski Stirsman ’58 I had been a mother with empty arms. Our first child, David, died the day he was born, December 27, 1957. Two years later, September 22, 1959, I gave birth to another son. Mark also was afflicted with spina bifida. Three months later Mark died, on the same day as his brother had two years before. ... We rushed out the back door on that balmy October morning, the three of us, Tom, our three-year-old daughter, Susan, and me. This morning was the happy ending to our prayers. Susan had been praying for a brother. This was the day we would bring our new two-and-a-half-month-old son, Thomas Jon, home. Doug ’86 and Margaret Horne My story is a unique one: my son used to be my brother. You see, my son, Brian (16), was my foster brother. He came to live with my parents when he was three months old. I was a bachelor at the time and lived off and on at my parents’ home. As time went by, I got married, and six months later, Brian came to live with my wife and I. By then he was five. Today he is an active 16-year-old, a junior in high school, holds down a job, plays trombone in the school band, is involved in sports (baseball, basketball, and track), and is considering Cedarville for college. Dan and Ginny Stevenson Bryant ’93 ... I decided to call the last number in the book and was asked a surprisingly new question: “When would you want a baby?” I said that I wasn’t really sure — “Anytime, I guess.” The woman proceeded to tell me that they had a child they were looking to place and would we be interested ... say, tomorrow? The result was little Elijah, who came to us three weeks later at five weeks of age. Plans to Prosper You T o r e a d t h e s e s t o r i e s i n t h e i r e n t i r e t y , v i s i t w w w . c e d a r v i l l e . e d u / a l u m n i .