“Someday we’ll start that journey,” I would say. I have probably said those words a hundred times in the last decade out loud and in my head. Someday when were ready, when were not so overwhelmed, when we pay off our debt, when we finish our house projects, when we have a savings account, when…
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We [the Payton’s] always knew that we wanted to adopt. In our minds, we thought that adoption would come later in life (we were 24 and 26 at the beginning of the process) and thought that you had to be more “mature” and “stable” to start the process. Really, there is no right time, just…
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Q: Tell us about your journey to adopt from Lesotho. Brownlows: When we started our adoption journey we were expecting 18-24 months. If someone would have told us it would have taken 8 years; I probably wouldn’t have signed up. That’s God’s grace for you though because he knew how much this journey would…
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When we married in 2010, we knew we wanted a family. Adoption was discussed at that time. We were thinking maybe have a biological child first and then adopt. We were in our mid 30’s when we married so we thought we had better get started in a couple of years. After trying to…
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The timing was all wrong… we were living in an RV at the time- trying to decide if we were building or buying our next home. There were 5 of us and a guinea pig living in an RV on my (Austin’s) parents land. Though we had talked about adopting in the past, it wasn’t on…
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In 2019, Cam and I were coming to the end of our 3-years of living in gorgeous Edinburgh, Scotland. It was an adventure for sure. Cam was finishing up his studies and I was finishing up exploring the beautiful architecture with our little adventure buddy Calvin Jack, who was then 4 years old and…
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When being asked to write our story, so many things come into my head. Starting at the beginning is as good a place as any. Jake always leaned towards adoption, but I wasn’t so sure. His mom, aunt and uncle were all adopted. He was one of 2 children in his family. Me, I came…
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What is your job title and description here at Small World? I am CEO/Executive Director. I’m responsible for the vision and mission of Small World. I oversee our orphan ministry, birthparent ministry and adoption agency operations. It is my responsibility to carry out God’s calling on Small World and it is my great pleasure to…
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July 7th, 2021 we did our final post adoption report. We have officially completed every step of our Liberian adoption. What a thing to celebrate! However, we wish we could tell you adoption was easy. We wish we could say it always felt “worth the work.” We wish we could say we loved our…
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What is your job title and what is role in working with Small World? I am referred to as the Country Director for Small World Adoption Agency in Liberia. My role includes working with different sectors of Liberia communities, pre-identifying, and screening children brought to the Small World orphanage home, investigating child eligibility for possible…
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