Our story begins like so many others with our family wanting to expand. Our daughter Kristina really wanted a sibling and neither of us wanted her to grow up as an only child. After many unfruitful attempts to have another biological child, we finally, after some soul searching, decided on international adoption. We attended an LSSI meeting at our church and credit the wonderful people we met there for helping us work through the initial stages of the process and pick both a nice country, Guatemala and a wonderful agency, Children’s Home Society of St Paul MN, to work with.

Once all of the interviews, home visits, and paper work were finally completed and submitted both of us breathed a huge sigh of relief. We were very excited when not long after we received a phone call about a little boy that was waiting for a home. Our hearts immediately went out to the mother who couldn’t keep this beautiful newborn child. It turned out that probably the hardest part of all was the waiting to get approval to travel after accepting our referral. When that wonderful day finally came we quickly made all the necessary travel and childcare arrangements and headed off on our journey to bring our son Sam home. To our surprise we ended up not being entirely emotionally prepared to see the country of Guatemala in person. We saw poverty at a level that neither of us had ever witnessed before. Everything we saw helped put what we were doing for our son into even greater perspective.

Name: Murray and Diana Johnson

The Johnsons had recently relocated to Chicago from the East Coast where they had adopted their oldest son from India. They wanted to pursue a second adoption from India and LSSI conducted their home study and licensing. The Johnsons selected Holt International as their international source agency. A couple years later, the Johnsons returned to India again and returned to Chicago with their twin girls! Today they are waiting to travel once again to India for the adoption of another little boy. They hope to travel this summer.

Name: Tami Olabode

Tami came to the U.S. from her native Nigeria as a young girl. She spent many years pursuing her education and career goals. She became a Registered Nurse and obtained graduate degrees in Nursing and Business. As a single woman, she decided it was time to pursue her other dream – that of becoming a mother. LSSI worked with Tami to prepare her for parenting through training, counseling, and licensing. On a warm September day, Tami received a beautiful, two-week old baby boy. She refers to him as the “joy” of her life.

Name: Andrea and Anthony Rice

As an attorney Andrea Rice was familiar with LSSI before she and her husband began the adoption process themselves. She had worked with several LSSI caseworkers in recent years as she represented other families in their adoptions. Anthony had also been aware of LSSI’s positive reputation from his work in social service. The Rices had been married for many years when they made the decision to pursue adoption. Initially hoping to adopt a newborn they chose to expand their options by considering children up to age 2 who were in foster care and moving toward adoption. In April 14 month old Matthew was placed in their home. He is a happy, sweet natured and very energetic little boy. Andrea and Anthony fell in love with him immediately. His adoption was finalized at the end of year.

Name: Nancy and Mike Ryan

The Ryans are the very proud parents of Maddie, a beautiful two year old toddler from China. LSSI helped Mike and Nancy select a source agency and worked with them to complete their home study and post placement requirements. When the Ryans traveled to China in December their long journey to becoming parents came to a very happy ending. While the trip was at times challenging they believe it was completely worth the effort to have Maddie in their lives. She is a very healthy, affectionate and social child and becoming her parents has been a dream come true.

Name: Jim and Laura Dekker

Jim and Laura Dekker came to LSSI. They had two biological children and were interested in adopting a child through DCFS. Baby Samuel joined the family straight from the hospital in March. Samuel was such a joy, that the family decided to pursue adoption again. Baby Sarah was placed with the Dekker’s through our Infant Program in October. The family found it especially comforting to be able to meet Sarah's birthparents and develop a relationship with them. Laura is enjoying being a stay-at-home mother, and the family is looking forward to the possibility of helping another child in need by adopting again in the future.