Lones & Stephanie Ellegood
Children: Hunter (11), Josie (5), Katie HuaMei (5)
Church: Community Fellowship Baptist Church, Hickory, KY
Adoption is a powerful word for our family; a word that’s been on our hearts for many years. We knew early in our marriage that we both had hearts for adoption. We just didn’t know that calling would lead is half way around the world.
After our son Hunter (now 11) was born we soon realized we would have to adopt to grow our little family in Fancy Farm, Kentucky. In 2013 we started the process to adopt from China after hurdles with our state foster care system. In June 2014 we brought home our daughter Josie (now 5) from China. She had been blessed to be cared for at Bethel China in Beijing where she was treated with the utmost love and care. Little did we know that this was not the end of our adoption journey.
Josie asked if we could bring home a little girl she lived with at Bethel named Hua Mei. The girl had tugged at our hearts as well, so we promised we would do our best to adopt her of at all possible. After prayer and time we eventually gave up, and that’s when we learned of someone advocating for a family for her. We quickly jumped into action, and despite many other families wanting her as well, we were blessed to be matched with her. We were blessed to have the support of our church, Community Fellowship Baptist Church in Hickory, Kentucky, through the process.
One of the biggest hurdles we had to face was the expense of the adoption. We had depleted all available funds to adopt Josie, so a new adoption meant starting from ground zero. We were very honored to receive a grant from Katelyn’s Fund. It was a huge help in being able to fulfill all of our adoption expenses. Without it, we would not have been able to have enough funds to adopt our daughter.
As I write this, we are sitting in China completing the adoption of our newest daughter, 5 year old Katie HuaMei. We can’t help but count our many blessings. We have definitely felt the Lord’s hand on both our adoptions. Being able to live out James 1:27 is such a blessing, and being adopted by our Heavenly Father is the biggest blessing of all. May we all continue to pray for the millions of Orphans worldwide who still need a family as well for all those currently in the adoption process. Thank you, Katelyn’s Fund, for helping to make many adoption dreams a reality.
