Adoption Story Featured in Local Newspaper
'Adoption Is Not Plan B,' Couple Says
by Sharon Hall – The Nugget
If you ask three-year-old Ru Helvie to count past 10, she gets a little confused. But when it comes to why Mark Helvie and his wife, Kim Scheil adopted her, she has no problem telling you the reason – it’s because “they wanted me.”
The couple did not want Ru because they could not have their own family. They have a six-year-old daughter, Mary. They wanted her as part of their family.
“The thing I like about AWAA [American World Adoption Association] is that they don’t think of adoption as ‘Plan B.’ They look at it as part of God’s plan for building a family,” Scheil says.
Scheil and Helvie discussed what they thought their family might look like when they became engaged. They always expected to have children in their home. They decided then, she says, that if they had trouble conceiving, they would go right to adoption.
“We didn’t [have trouble conceiving], but after we had Mary we were still thinking about adoption. So we did some research, and we found AWAA.”
The couple have since become advocates for the agency that helped them through the process of adoption by sharing its message with others who may be considering bringing a child into their home. They will be holding an adoption seminar Saturday, April 10 from 2-4 p.m. at St. Luke the Evangelist Catholic Church.
“It’s a free multi-media program that addresses what God’s word says about adoption and helps families to understand the blessing and the process of international adoption,” Scheil says.
AWAA is a Christ-centered organization whose mission is to help American families and the world’s orphans experience God in Jesus through the “spirit of adoption.” The agency believes adoption is a God ordained way to build a family.
AWAA works with several countries in placing children – China, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Kazakhstan, Russia and the Ukraine. Both healthy and special needs children are available, though the wait time for a healthy child is often longer.
“Special needs children range from minor to major issues, but the wait is really short,” Scheil says. “In China, they call them ‘waiting children.’”