Meet our January 2024 Featured Family: The Suero Family
1. Tell us more about your family.
We're Danny and Rachel Suero and we live in Indiana with our 6 (soon-to-be 8!) beautiful children. We've been married for 11 years and we homeschool our school aged kids. When we had been dating for only 9 days when our oldest son was born struggling on the other side of the world, but we wouldn't know about him for another 10 years. We've always wanted to adopt, but didn't have a clear picture or plan. We honestly thought maybe it wouldn't even happen for us. Thanks to Reece's Rainbow, we stumbled upon the profiles of 2 of our children who were both waiting in Ukraine for a family. We had 3 biological children at the time, and our 4th bio baby was born just 3 months after Isaac and Lily made it to America safely. We essentially doubled our children during that time and we're so thankful for each of them.
2. Tell us more about your heart for adoption.
We've always had a heart for adoption and been surrounded by positive adoption influences, such as Rachel's relationship with her 2 youngest brothers who were adopted as older waiting children from China. We thought maybe we'd adopt from China as well one day, or maybe even India, but definitely not until our children were older and we were more financially stable. God's plans were so much different and so much better though! We stumbled upon the profiles of Isaac and Lily, our 2 children we adopted from Ukraine, and we immediately knew they were meant to be ours. We started the process immediately and despite the Covid chaos in 2020, we brought them home in less than 9 months while we were expecting our 4th biological child! We weren't sure that we'd ever adopt again, but we left the door open and are so happy that God has led us to adopt again, this time from Bulgaria. We're racing as fast as we possibly can this time too and we're almost to the finish line now!
3. Tell us more about your adoption journey so far.
A good friend shared the profile of a little boy in Bulgaria with us earlier this year. He looked so much like our oldest son that we did a double take, along with every family member and friend who saw him. We of course felt so drawn to him and were led to pursue adoption again very quickly. Unfortunately, we learned shortly afterwards that he was no longer available for adoption due to his condition. He was considered imminently terminal and unable to leave his oxygen tent or orphanage for even a moment. He is the reason we decided to adopt again and we ask everyone who reads this to please keep this precious child in your prayers as he nears the end of his life, sadly without ever knowing the love of a family. We pressed on in his honor, knowing that adoption literally saves lives, just as it did for our oldest son. Over the summer we came to realize that we were meant to adopt J, a little boy we had long advocated for, but hadn't recognized as our son, until now. We've loved him for a long time, but now we're just so happy to know that he'll be in our arms soon. Sometimes the answer was right in front of us all along, and that certainly was the case for us with J.
In addition to our little J, we've been approved to adopt 19 month old Baby "E".
4. Tell us more about the child you are adopting.
J is a 6 year old little boy with some very big special needs but an even bigger smile. He has cerebral palsy, epilepsy, microcephaly, blindness, and brain abnormalities. He is mostly immobile, tube fed, and nonverbal as well. We absolutely adore him already and can't wait to give him all the snuggles and love in the world. He is as close to perfect as we can imagine! E has Noonan syndrome, hydrocephalus, craniofacial abnormalities, significant delays in all areas, pulmonary valve stenosis, respiratory issues, and a deformity of his foot.
Prayer Requests:
Please pray that J and E stay healthy while they wait to come home, and that they and the other children in their orphanages are shown true kindness, patience, compassion, and warmth. Please also pray as we attempt to bring home 2 unrelated children again, just like in 2020, because we've experienced issues with timing and red tape, but we are approved and attempting to make that happen if it's God's will for our family. Lastly, please pray that we will overcome these financial mountains soon! We do have a way to go, but the end is in sight. Please pray that people would be willing to help if they're able to.
UPDATE: The Suero family might be traveling as early as THIS month to Bulgaria for their first trip to meet their precious sons! Because they are adopting two children, their adoption fees have significantly increased. We will be donating $1 from every bag of our freshly roasted beans this month to their Connected Hearts Ministry fund, where 100% of the money goes directly to their adoption expenses, and we hope that YOU will partner with them too: https://give.connectedheartsministry.org/campaign/suero-family-adoption/c527840