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Couple’s faith leads them to adopt

By Nicole Riehl, The Gazette – Cedar Rapids, IA

When Brad Groothuis met his new daughter Alicia in a Liberian orphanage three weeks ago, she bear-hugged his head and said, “Daddy, you’re not going nowhere”.

“I said, ‘You’re right. We’re not going anywhere.’” Said Groothuis, 31, of Marion. “We’re your parents now.”

Six-year-old Alicia wasn’t the only addition to the Groothuis family. Groothuis and his wife, Jenny, 30, adopted four daughters from war-torn Liberia – in addition to the five biological sons they already had.

The nine children’s ages range from 5 months to 9 years, and the family of 11 will live on one income, from Brad Groothuis’ accounting job at Rockwell Collins in Cedar Rapids.

Sounds crazy, right?

Not if you have the faith they do.

“In order for God to work in amazing, miraculous ways, you have to step out in faith,” Brad Groothuis said. “If you can see how it’s all going to work out, there’s no faith required.

“I want what God wants for my life, but I don’t want to be a man who lived and died and was one of a billion that did. I want to make a difference. I may not be Mother Teresa or someone who impacts millions of lives, but I know that I’m impacting nine lives now, and that’s not an insignificant thing.”

The extended family met for the first time Thursday at the Children’s Hospital of Iowa, where the two youngest girls were recovering from bacterial infections common to Third-World countries.

The journey to that Iowa City hospital room, the family believes, was nothing short of a miracle.

Brad and Jenny Groothuis have wanted to adopt an African child since they were engaged to be married 11 years ago.

She sponsored a child in Ethiopia, and the couple talked about how they’d adopt later, when they had the time and money.

This year, they felt the time had arrived. They were able to buy a five-bedroom house, and they inherited some money.

And a friend of Jenny Groothuis awoke from a coma, called and said she had been with angels who had the faces of babies of all colors.

The call got Jenny Groothuis thinking about Africa. When she got home, a magazine had arrived in the mail. The issue was about orphanages in Liberia.

In June, the couple started the adoption process with the help of a children’s relief organization called the West African Children Support Network, or WACSN.

By Aug. 18, they were en route to Monrovia, Liberia’s capital. After 30 hours of travel, they arrived to find bombed-out buildings. People relieved themselves in the streets, among the trash and rats.

There was no running water and no electricity. The foul-smelling air was almost unbearable.

And everyone was hungry.

“The first thing most Liberians think about when they get up in the morning is, ‘Where am I going to get my food?’” Brad Groothuis said. “Next day, same thing.”

The devastation didn’t take away from the couple’s first moments with their daughters.

The Groothuis family – Sebastian, 9, Gabriel, 7, Solomon, 5, Antonio, 3, and Dominic, 15 months, mailed a book of family pictures to the girls.

So when Alicia and Princess, 2, saw their new parents, they jumped up and started tickling and wrestling them. When the Groothuises met the twins, 7-month-old Sofia and Ariana, concern dimmed their joy.

The twins were quite sick. Ariana had run a high fever for nine days and was having trouble breathing. Doctors weren’t sure why. They gave the girls some yellow powder, it made them worse. The couple pushed to speed up the adoption and fly home sooner to get the girls the medical care they needed.

Before that could happen, Ariana died.

They took Ariana’s body to a hospital so a death certificate could be issued. A doctor there listed SIDS as the cause, although there was nothing sudden about her death.

“It was hard not to ask the questions. What could we have done differently?” Jenny Groothuis said. “I just didn’t want to go there. I could blame the doctor. I could blame the fact that the whole country is a mess. I remember sobbing and just wanting her back because I missed her so bad.”

The couple had to bribe hospital employees to get their daughter’s body back. In a simple service, they buried her, wrapped in a blanket.

As they grieved, they wondered whether to adopt another child. Ariana’s cousin, 5-month-old Adriana, was at the orphanage. She, too, was sick.

“I thought, ‘We can’t do this again, especially not right away,” Brad Groothuis said. “Then we went downstairs and looked at Adriana in her crib. She had a fever, and we thought, ‘A week from now, death will most likely be her fate, too.’ At that point it almost turned into a rescue mission.”

Jenny Groothuis returned home with the two older girls. She’s watched them eat – a lot – and introduced them to hot, running water.

She’s taught them not to go potty in the yard; they’re still learning that not all animals are rats.

Brad Groothuis stayed behind to complete Adriana’s adoption. As he flew home with the two infant girls, he feared they would die. Sofia was too sick to eat, so he dripped water into her mouth. When they landed at the Des Moines airport, the couple weren’t sure the girls would make it to Iowa City.

“The whole time in the emergency room, I’m just beaming. The doctors are like, ‘Are you OK? Most parents would be really stressed,’” Jenny Groothuis said, “but I was just so glad they were here.”

The next challenge will be adjusting to life with an even bigger family. The couple are relying on help from friends, family and their church, River of Life Ministries in Cedar Rapids.

The Rev. Steve Irwin said the congregation is behind the Groothuises 110 percent and have donated money and prayed.

The Groothuises deserve plenty of credit, he said.

“I don’t know anyone who I think is more capable of doing it,” he said.

“They’re incredible people. They humble me. If Jenny could, she’d adopt the whole nation.”

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