The first $2,500 we raise in this campaign will be matched 100%, so please start the trend of giving! Every dollar you give to kick this campaign off will equal two! Your donation is TAX DEDUCTIBLE!

My husband and I would like to share with you the story of our dear friends, Chad and Sarah Muehler, in hopes that anyone who reads will be as inspired by their strength and courage as we are, and hopefully compelled to help. We were moved to create this fundraiser by personally witnessing their journey through the adoption process while being amazing parents to their four children, providing wonderful unwavering friendship to countless people, and tireless workers.

I met the Muehlers when I moved from New York City to tiny Lindsborg, Kansas. Leaving my career, my friends, and the big city was not an easy transition to say the least. Despite having my husband by my side, at many times I felt alone. To keep active, I chose to pursue CrossFit and I joined the Muehler’s gym- it was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. It was not a gym, it was a family. I was uplifted by the tight-knit supportive constant push to be the absolute best person you could be both physically and mentally. The closer I became to Chad and Sarah, I realized it wasn’t just the gym that made me feel that way, it was them. Their friendship became irreplaceable. I witnessed their genuine care for all the people around them - friends, family, gym members and non-members, and especially for these children they were working so hard for without any guarantee how things might end. Chad and Sarah have inspired us both, as well as countless others who know them, by running fearlessly forward with God, fueled by faith, hope, and love towards the selfless goal of blessing their family with two more smiles.

This is simply MY story of what they mean to me. Ask anyone who knows them and they’ll be able to tell you theirs – because they are just that awesome.

We’ve all participated in their fundraisers, been open ears to the ups and downs, and watched them exhaust themselves attempting to raise the funds necessary to bring these children into their home. This campaign is an attempt to help without the burden of work being on their shoulders. We hope that by inviting you into this process, you will see yourself as part of the community we hope to build around their children as they grow up.

As you will read in their adoption story below, they have spent around $15,000 so far and still have around $20,000 to go. Please consider giving and helping this tremendous cause reach its fruition.

The first $2,500 we raise in this campaign will be matched 100%, so please start the trend of giving! Every dollar you give to kick this campaign off will equal two! Your Donation is TAX DEDUCTIBLE!

The Muehler Family Story

I was 7 or 8 when I met my first Haitian friends.  Thomas and Israel.  They were attending seminary in the States and my grandparents were helping sponsor them. They were kind and jovial with big smiles! They let me sit on their laps and hold their hands as we walked around the campus. I was completely enamored with them.

Fast forward...Chad and I were sitting in an airport on our way back from a football coaches convention in Florida on January 12, 2010.  We watched as reports came in about the earthquake in Haiti.  Disaster wasn’t a big enough word for it.  I feared for my grandparents friends.  There were no words for the devastation.

These moments collided and that’s where our adoption story begins...

Adoption was something we had talked about in passing over the years of marriage.  As in, “it would be cool to adopt someday.”   There really was never any discussion between the two of us of adopting from anywhere but Haiti.  It was always Haiti.

I began researching Haitian adoptions after the earthquake, but due to the severity of the earthquake, they shut down the program for a time.  We also found out we did not meet the requirements to adopt.  We were too young and had too many biological children.  So we waited and began this winding path towards the unknown...I reached out to a few people in an organization my grandparents had worked with, Haiti Lutheran Mission Society, in hopes that someone could direct us to an orphanage (we at that time, didn’t know how the process worked exactly).  We operated under an enormous amount of naivety for a long time.  I’m thankful for what we know now and have been made more aware of in this whole process!  

In a roundabout way, I eventually began emailing with a Pastor Bernard in Port Au Prince who was a pastor of a Lutheran Church there.  He informed us that they do not have an orphanage in connection with the church directly, but his sister in law ran one.  After some back and forth, my dad informed me that this Pastor Bernard was in fact Thomas.  As in Thomas, my grandparents’ friend who I had met as a child!  Neither of us knew since I had a different name and I had never known his last name!  It was such a fun surprise for us both to meet nearly 30 years later!  I immediately remembered his smile!

And so it has gone.  God weaving this story together.

Our own relationships in Haiti began the fall of 2012. We took our first trip and have never looked back.  We met Josie, Thomas’s sister in law, who did have a small orphanage.  We were immediately taken in by her kindness and spirit.  We had no intention of “finding children” on that trip. We purely wanted to go and see this country we thought we loved. Afterward, we decided we wanted to adopt from House of Love and Hope, Josie’s orphanage, if it was at all possible. We, again, weren't sure how this all worked and because the program was closed at the time didn't really know how to get accurate information.. After that first visit, we asked Josie if there were any siblings at HOLH since we felt compelled to adopt siblings.  There were 2 sets.  A sister/brother and 2 sisters.  As we looked through pictures, the sister of the sister/brother set was seemingly in all our pictures from that day.  I was so drawn to her.  We talked and a seed of hope and wonder was planted.  Maybe, we thought.  Maybe this is them.  The orphanage wasn’t licensed and we still didn’t meet the current requirements so we waited.  For over 2 years.  During that time, I took 2 more trips to Haiti and Chad took 1.  We were in love with this place and had made friends that we wanted to visit now!

Once the orphanage was licensed and the laws had changed(Haiti signed the Hague Convention Treaty), we now met the requirements, so we applied to an agency to adopt. It felt big and scary.  We knew at that point, we were going to try and adopt the siblings from HOLH, but still, even now, don’t have a guarantee that those two will be our children.  We may get matched with other children.  We march on, trusting that God already knows who they are and is preparing us all for that time when we will all get to be together.

Adoption is daunting in its very nature.  The cost is, frankly, shocking.  We are currently about $15,000 into the process and we are anticipating at least $20,000 more before it’s all said and done.  It has been and will be, nothing short of a miracle.  It’s a good thing we believe in miracles!  We have walked through this in awe as we have seen God move people to come alongside us in a variety of ways.  We’ve seen doors open, money donated, prayers answered and support given.  

When I am overcome with the kindness and generosity of people, all I can think about is how much we are looking forward to introducing our children to the people that helped us along the way and telling them “Look what you helped do! Look how God used you to accomplish something amazing!”  We dream of that day!

MORE PHOTOS:

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https://www.dropbox.com/s/1yhobhasspdd6oj/10174969_10152100191565959_8817474750798748560_n.jpg?dl=0