{"id":302831,"date":"2023-12-04T14:40:14","date_gmt":"2023-12-04T20:40:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=302831"},"modified":"2023-12-06T12:23:49","modified_gmt":"2023-12-06T18:23:49","slug":"boy-down-syndrome-adopted-completes-family","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/boy-down-syndrome-adopted-completes-family\/","title":{"rendered":"Boy with Down syndrome adopted from Serbia ‘completes our family,’ say parents of six"},"content":{"rendered":"
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For Matt and Sarah Effhauser, adoption wasn\u2019t necessarily the life they had pictured<\/a>. The Effhausers had five children, and what many would call the \u201cperfect\u201d family as it was. Then, the words of a family priest changed everything: \u201cWhat is going to be the thing in your life that defines you, your \u2018yes?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

For Sarah, her “yes” was the desire to adopt a child with Down syndrome from outside the U.S. For Matt, the answer wasn\u2019t quite so clear.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe already had five incredible children, whom we loved with all our hearts,\u201d Matt explained. \u201cAnd growing up in the 80s and 90s \u2014 where the culture emphasized having ‘healthy’ children and a ‘perfect’ family \u2014 I felt unprepared to embrace the responsibilities of adoption, much less the adoption of a child with a so-called \u2018disability.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

But Sarah\u2019s conviction was strong and persistent, so Matt began praying. \u201cToday, I know my mindset at the time was deeply flawed. The truth is that I was letting my fear overcome me.\u201d Over time, he came to the same conviction as Sarah: they were going to begin the adoption process.<\/p>\n