Blessed by Adoption
By Mendy Parmer
Matthew 18:5
“And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me.”
First let me introduce our family. We are Chip, Mendy, Jacob and Joleigh Parmer from Chipley, Fl. We are truly excited to share how God blessed us through the miracle of adoption.
Let me tell you our story. All my life all I ever wanted more than anything in this world was to be a Mommy. After several attempts to conceive, numerous surgeries and even an attempt with IVF, Chip and I decided that this wasn’t God’s plan for us to have a child on our own. Adoption was our choice, not because it was the only way, but because that is what God’s plan was for our lives.
In 1997, a dear precious family, the Crowe’s, from Tampa, called Chip and me about a beautiful, young girl that wanted to give her child up for adoption. She was pregnant at that time and knew that she wasn’t able to care for her son, but loved him enough and, unselfishly, gave us our first miracle from God. We contacted an adoption attorney, as it was a private adoption, and our journey to Jacob began. In short, we found out about our son in January of 1997and he was due in April. We had just a short time to prepare for our arrival of our son, Jacob. Most moms have 9 months, we had 3 months. God made a way and cleared a path that only HE could do. At the time we were in Ashford and Chip was commuting back at forth while working on a Ranch in Cottondale, Florida. After talking to our attorney, he advised us to move to Florida to help with the adoption. Say, no more….we were packed and gone! Crazy, you say? No, as a dear friend told me, “you are stepping out on FAITH” and Trusting God would supply our needs and give us the desires of our hearts. He did exactly that. Jacob was born on April 28th, 1997 and we brought our precious son home on May 1st. Can’t believe it has been 13 great years since we became a Mama and Daddy for the first time. Wow! Time flies.
Jacob is now 13 years old. He loves to hunt with his Dad, go fishing and spending time with his grandparents, both in Tennessee and Alabama. He is a smart, handsome, young man that loves God and loves being a part of the youth group at FBC in Chipley. He is finishing up the 7th grade at Washington County Christian School.
When Jacob turned 9 years old, he said, “I want a sister or brother”. Since we had always talked openly about his adoption with him, we told him that we needed to start praying and seek what God’s will, for our family, would be.
In March, 2005, while searching online for information about adoption, I felt the God was leading us to International adoption. That night I ran across an adoption agency from Sarasota, FL. I sat at the computer with tear filled eyes and prayed. “Lord, I don’t know where to go, who to trust or what to do.” I felt a calmness and peace come over me, so I went ahead and sent our information to request additional information for International Adoption. The next night, less than 24 hours, we received a phone call from a Family Coordinator with this agency, or so we thought. Long story short again, Chip answered the phone that night and I was like----“Who is it? What do they want?” because I knew it was about the adoption information, as we requested. Well, after Chip was finished answering her questions, I heard him say---“Rochelle, what a small world.” Come to find out, the lady on the other end of the phone, who then lived in Arkansas, had gone to a private school in Alabama with Chip and they hadn’t seen or spoken in over 20 years. Now some may say coincidence, I say no way----it was GOD~~~Well, that started our journey to Joleigh.
After working with piles and piles of papers and documents, we finally saw our beautiful daughter’s face on September 28th, 2006. After waiting 6-8 additional weeks, for our travel approval and visas, we finally were able to board a plane in November of 2006 and start our journey to China to pick up our 12 month old baby girl, waiting to come to her forever family on November 20th. Wow, Chip and I just looked at one another and knew that only GOD could prepare this for us! Flying to China? Staying for 2 weeks? Adopting our daughter from another country? Knowing HE had provided it all, for all of us to travel as a family to meet her. Nothing but GOD!!! Joleigh is now 4 ½ years old, 
beiful, smart and full of life. She is in K3 at Washington County Christian School. We will soon celebrate 4 years home with her.
We thank GOD everyday for our blessings, our church families, our friends and more importantly, our loving family. God is so good! Without Him, Chip and I would have not had the honor of becoming parents. We thank you for taking time in reading our story. If you would like more information about domestic or international adoption, please feel free to email me @ mbp517@msn.com or visit http://www.celebrateadoption.com/
Mendy Parmer
Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart." Psalms 37:4
