Justin and Kathy Hansen
Children: Availya, and Evalina
Soon to be added to their family: Oskar, Igor, and Aleksander.
Church: Radford Baptist Church, Moneta, VA.
We both had a burden for adoption long before we even met. In fact, it was a deciding factor in us getting married. Even before we were married, we started praying together that God would prepare us for adoption and use us in an adoption ministry. We believe that all Christians are commanded to take care of orphans. In James 1:27, God says, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress…”
In our original family plan, we were going to have one or two biological children first, and then adopt. What followed was two and a half years of tears, frustration, and confusion about not being able to conceive. After much prayer and seeking of the Lord’s guidance, we felt God’s leading in our lives to pursue adoption. There is a peace that has come over us since we have decided that God’s plan is better than ours. We decided that instead of putting money towards fertility testing and treatment, we could use that money to give a home and loving family to orphans. We adopted our twin daughters from Bulgaria in November 2014, at the age of 7. We have been so blessed by having them in our lives. We knew that we wanted to adopt again one day, but we wanted to wait for God’s leading. After we had the girls home for a year, we both started to feel nudged toward adopting again. We didn’t know where to start, so we started to look up different programs, considering domestic adoption first, as we didn’t want to go through fundraising for an international adoption again. However, we ultimately want to do what God wants us to do. We didn’t feel God leading us to adopt domestically, so we started looking at waiting children profiles. We felt drawn to a profile of 3 brothers in Poland. We felt crazy to even be considering adopting 3 more children, so we prayed a lot! We continually asked God to close the doors if we are not to pursue these boys. He has continually reaffirmed that this is the path He has for us. We are committed to following through with God’s plan as He leads us. We both have a strong desire and big heart for older sibling groups. Without families who are willing to take in more than one at a time, these children would either be split up or never adopted. We truly feel that this is our purpose, to fulfill James 1:27, and give a home to orphans who may never have one otherwise.
Katelyn’s Fund has helped us pay for adoption expenses that we could not afford. God has used them in our journey to bring our precious boys home. But more importantly, it has brought these boys one step closer to learning about the love of a Savior who died on a cross for them!
