When you meet Adam and Megan Joseph, the joy of life is written all over their faces. But it wasn’t always that way. Several years ago, Megan was working at the Department of Social Services and Adam was in undercover law enforcement. They met on an investigation, which is not the most auspicious place to begin a relationship. Initially, they were in contact solely in a professional manner as the case wound its way through the system.
A year later, Megan says they began chatting as friends. From here Megan is very open about her own life struggles and how she ended up in the hospital requiring inpatient treatment. The night she was admitted, she asked to speak with Adam, who visited her at the hospital. After concluding her treatment, Megan says they began dating and the rest is history. Adam proposed six months later, and they married six months after that. Megan and Adam will celebrate their third anniversary in December.
God’s Calling
Prior to their wedding, Megan had come to Crossnore to work as a Case Manager. A year or so later, Megan sent a photo of two little girls to Adam and commented that she felt God was calling them to adopt the girls. Adam said, “At that point, we hadn’t even discussed having our own biological children! So I made a joke and kinda blew it off.” But the couple kept praying and praying. They started visiting with the girls and it wasn’t long before Adam and Megan knew that God was calling them to live out His plan for them. “I’m thankful that Megan was steadfast in her prayer because I wasn’t totally on board in the beginning and now I can’t imagine our life without them,” said Adam.
Twins Clarissa and Bryanna turned five in August and started kindergarten this year. Despite their trauma history, they are typical five-year olds. They love bugs, which Megan says drives her crazy. They play dress-up and Bryanna always stays dressed up from the time she gets home from school to the time she goes to bed. Clarissa loves the family dog and follows her around everywhere. They play soccer at the Y and love their gymnastics classes. They also enjoy riding around the yard in their Power Wheels jeep. While they are outside, Adam says they love to help him with the yard work and Megan laughs and promises that there are no child labor laws being broken.
Being Open
Adopting two children at once is never easy and the Josephs were concerned with how their extended families would accept the girls. Adam was particularly concerned because this was new in their family and happened so quickly after their marriage. Megan and Adam have a large extended family and were also concerned that the family would overwhelm the girls. But the family quickly put those concerns to rest. Megan relayed that her parents were thrilled at becoming first-time grandparents. Adam said, “It was neat to see how quickly they assimilated into our family. From day one, it was like they had been here their entire lives. Just the other day, we were at my parents’ home and my mom teared up thinking about how different her life would be without the girls in our family.”
When asked about why they chose to go this route in beginning their family, it is clear that Megan and Adam feel this is a calling from God. The couple mentioned their thought that a lot of people think adoption is only for people who can’t have children. They feel strongly that God can…and does…call anyone to adoption at any time. It’s just a matter of being open to His will instead of their own will. Adam said, “I was set on having our biological children first but that wasn’t what God had planned for our family. Now we have two beautiful little girls that we can’t imagine being without.” And Megan said, “When we do have biological children, we know they will fit into the family seamlessly too.”
Getting Involved
The Joseph family has seen with their own eyes how older children often end up in foster care and stay there. The reality is that there are many children in foster care who want homes and who would do well in a forever family, regardless of how old they are when they come into care. Clarissa and Bryanna are a great example of that as they have been embraced by Megan and Adam and their entire family.
Megan says there is always something you can do to help and uses this quote to encourage others to get involved, “Adopt. If you can’t adopt, foster. If you can’t foster, sponsor. If you can’t sponsor, volunteer. If you can’t volunteer, donate. If you can’t donate, educate.” And Adam added, “You can always pray. There’s a lot of kids who need prayer, and prayer costs nothing.”
For more information about becoming a foster or adoptive parent, please visit www.crossnore.org/foster-care-adoptions.
