Jason and Jennie Salazar
Children: Jackson (17), Cameron (15), Josie (8), Diego (4)
Church: James River Church, Ozark, MO
Our adoption journey began in May of 2012. This is when we first felt God lead us to adopt for a 2nd time. Our first adoption was from Haiti in 2010 and we saw God work a miracle in our daughter’s life. This opened our eyes to the great need for orphan care in Haiti and showed us that we have been given the ability to do something about it.
We officially began the process in December of 2012. We had no idea how God would stretch our faith over almost a 4 year long journey. It was an emotional leap of faith as well as financial. But we trusted God to complete what He called us to do.
After completing mountains of paperwork we began to hardest part of the process which was to wait. And wait we did! On February 13, 2015 we got the long awaited phone call from our agency. It’s a boy! We were told we had been matched with a 3 year old boy named Diego. All of a sudden it became very real. We had a son.
The next step of the journey was a required 14 day socialization trip. We left for Haiti in March. We met our son and were able to spend a wonderful 2 weeks with him. We thought the hardest part was behind us but we were wrong. It was going to be another year before we would be able to bring our boy home. As hard as it was to leave him, we trusted God to help us remain strong.
Finally, on April 8th we received a scanned visa from USCIS. It was time to pick up our son. We flew to Haiti and were finally reunited with our little boy! We decided to spend a few days in Haiti. It was a wonderful time. On April 22, 2016 we flew home with our son. Nearly 4 years after the journey began, it was over and our family was complete.
We came home to a crowd of very excited people at the airport. The most excited were our 3 children. It is hard to put into words the feeling of having your family together after such a hard and emotion filled process.
As we reflect on the last 4 years, we can’t help but be overwhelmed with gratefulness. Firstly, to our heavenly Father for allowing us to be a part of this plan and for strengthening us for a road that we could not have walked without His help. Secondly, to Katelyn’s Fund. We could not have done this without your financial and prayer support. You are truly being used of the Lord to change the lives of children. We are so grateful and hope that in the future God will enable us to pay it forward. Thank you! Last, to our church, family and friends. Their support helped carry us and now to see their love for our son is such a blessing.
Thank you does not seem adequate. We are grateful beyond words. May God richly bless your ministry as you continue to change lives.
