The Answers To Your Questions...

Thank You , for all of you who took the time out to ask me questions about who I am and to those of you who left sweet comments! You do know a lot about me! Like, the obvious..... I love being a mother! I love adoption!!! That is why I was put here on this earth to mother the orphans the Lord gave us! I am a Christian, I was saved and baptized as a child. As I get older my faith becomes stronger! I do live in SC. I moved here about 13 years ago and love it! But I would rather move towards Charleston, SC ... The Low Country! I am a Southern Girl!! Born in WV, but claim SC as my HOME! I love to make my house a home! I love to decorate and create!!!

Now on to your questions......

#1.) Comes from Hannah. How did you meet your husband?

Karlton and I meet in Sept '94. My parents and Karlton were with a mission organization called Wycliffe, they knew each other. I was seeing someone at the time so I never thought much about it. We kept coming across each others paths over the next few months , at that point I was in an on and off relationship. I started praying for the Lord to show me what to do about the guy I was seeing and each time I would pray I would have a dream about Karlton, the last time I prayed and asked the Lord to show me what I should do, I dreamt that I was suppose to tell Karlton about my first dream and that we would be getting married. This went on for a few months until
I finally broke it off with the guy I was seeing. Then I really starting thinking a lot about Karlton and trying to get the nerve up to call him or talk to him and ask him out.( Yes, ladies that is how it is done around here! I don't wait ! HA!!! ) At the end of June '95, my mom ran into Karlton one day and said "Mary Ann wants to ask you if you would go to see the fire works with her and a friend on the 4th." He had prior engagements but said he would call me. A day or so later he called me and asked me out. We went on our first date July 9th . I got the nerve to come clean and tell him about my prayers and dreams. I thought it might scare him away but, he told me before we even went out he told his family I was the girl he was going to marry. The most important thing for me was that he had to love kids! He told me he wanted a big family, 5 kids and I said 4. I made him promise me that one day we would adopt no matter how many kids we had, and he did! On July 19th, 1995 we eloped and then headed to Cancun for our honeymoon. That was 13 1/2 yrs ago.

#2.) Comes from Hannah. What is my biggest indulgence?

Now days..... I can not pass up a Starbucks. I Love my Chia Tea Lattes and scones (orange cranberry or blueberry). I am pretty into my Chocolates too! My Fav. Lyndt's Milk Chocolate Truffles! MMMMMM! Other then getting my hair done occasionally that is about it.

#3.)Also comes from Hannah. What are my greatest strength and weaknesses?

My strength comes from my faith , my trust in my Lord Jesus Christ. "I can do all things through Him who gives me strength." (Philippians 4:13) This is how I function and go on. Then it would be my roll as a mother and a wife. I find my strength there! I am a very loyal, persevering, organized, and can manage finances well! I can take a dollar and stretch it to its fullest! I am a great bargain and budget shopper! I stick to a BUDGET!





What is my greatest weaknesses? I LOVE TO SHOP! ( this is a double edge sword for me) I am a great bargain shopper! I esp. love to shop for girls clothes!!!! Soooo much fun!!!! It would also be orphans. I want to take them all under my wing and adopt them All!!!! Oh yeah.... And sweets!


#4. Comes from Lynda. What is your best vacation ever?

Wow that is hard!!! All my vacations are my Fav! I love all our Family Vacations! Our honeymoon was in Cancun that was great! I loved all our Disney, Charleston, Savannah, St. Augustine,FL! We always go back to these same spots, because we love them so much! I am not hard to please as long as its a vacation! We are going to the Bahamas soon! So I am sure that one will move up on the list too!


#5. Also comes from Lynda and Rhonda. If you could travel anywhere where would it be and why?

I have always wanted to go to Paris, France, and England. I want to go see all the grand Castles and Chateau's!! I love watch all the movies that are made in England! We said when we first got married that we would go to Paris for our 15th Ann. That is coming up soon! We also said we would go to the Bahamas for our 10th Ann, and then we said for our 13 th. Hopefully we make it before the 14th.



#6. Comes from Rhonda. How many trips have you made to Guatemala?

I have been to Guatemala 10 times. The first 3 to visit Sara Ava, the 3 to visit Sara Ava and Lilee. # 6 trip was to bring Sara Ava home. Trips 7-9 were to visit Lilee and #10 was to bring Lilee home. I had to go every 6 weeks for Sara Ava because she would scream and cry yelling for me when we left. I had to go so often for my sake. It broke my heart! Knowing I would see her again every 6 weeks is what got me through! Jordan made 2 trips with me and Josiah made one, and my mom came with me to bring Sara Ava home.

I LOVE Antigua! I have been there 8 times and stayed there 7 times.Karlton and I together made the rest of the trips together. Our most memorable trip is when Karlton, Lilee, and I went to Lake Atitlan, It was gorgeous. First we went to an orphanage that will forever stay in my heart before we left for Lake Atitlan. We were able to go to a Mayan village across the lake and then on the way back to Antigua we made the most horrendous trip through the mountains I have ever been on. I thought we were going to die! We had a crazy driver and the roads were on cliffs. EEEKKK!

#7. Comes from Heather. Tell us about the time you were in Africa?


Ohhhh Boy!!! I do not have very fond memories of ( Cameroon) Africa! Before Karlton and I was married he was scheduled to leave for Africa for a 2 year Mission Trip. Because we were newly married they only let us come on a short trip for 3 1/2 mo. I ended up pregnant with Jordan and getting Malaria at the same time. I ended up running a fever of 106 for a few days and do not remember that time. I almost lost Jordan and they sent us home 2 weeks early to put me in the hospital. But once I got home I was completely healed and the Malaria was gone! PTL!! So the entire 3 months I was there I basically stayed in the apartment the whole time with no TV and SICK. I went to work in the Child Care and the Library there. I got to work in the Library for a few days but that was it. That was the time we came to the realization that we can do God's work here in the USA just as well!

#8. Comes from Heather. If you were not a stay at home mom what job would you have?

I would be working with kids. I have a 2 yr. degree in Early Childhood Education. I only had a few more hours to complete to be able to open and run my own Day Care and another year to complete to be a Kindergarten Teacher. I have always worked with kids. I have been a nanny to many kids, taught preschool, and was a youth leader at our church for 3 yrs. So to answer this question I would be working with kids.

#9. Comes from Kristy. Do I think I will always be a stay at home mom or will I go back to work once the kids are older?

That is a hard question to answer right now, because that seems so far away. I will finish answering that question in the questions to come. But with my husband owning his own business there is always something for me to do. I am never left with nothing to do.

#10. Comes from Rhonda. Have you always wanted to adopt?

It was laid on my heart to adopt when I was 13. I knew that one day I would adopt and felt so strongly about it that is why I made Karlton promise me before we were married, that no matter how many kids we had that one day we would adopt. What I did not know is that we would adopt Internationally. I always assumed it would be from here. And I did not know we would adopt 2. In my heart I wanted to adopt an American Indian little girl but what we got was a Mayan Indian little girl. How cool is that!!! And a little girl that you can not tell that is adopted!God is so awesome!

#11. Comes from Kristy. Do you think that one day you will adopt again?

I love adoption so much! Karlton and I have left our hearts wide open that if the Lord has another child in store for us then we would love too! I doubt that door will ever close! If I had my way and our financial situation was better I would adopt allot more kids. Who knows maybe one day it will be.

Karlton and I have a joke that what will we do when these kids grow up. We say we will just keep adopting so that we always have a little one. But it may not be much of a joke. We will have to wait and see. So that might also answer the job question too.

#12. Comes from Rhonda. What is the most annoying question(s) that you get regarding adoption?

I don't mind all the questions we get( like is she yours or are they all yours?), because I feel that is my time to witness and tell others about adoption and what a miracle it is! But, The one that floored me the most was " How can you love someone else's child? I don't think I could." My reply was," they are not someone else's child. They were given up and the Lord gave them to us, so they are mine , and they are very easy to love. As easy to love as your own child."

#13. Comes from Rhonda. What adoption agency did you use?

A Loving Choice International, out of Greenville, SC. But she since retired. The lady who owned the agency was a mother who started her own agency after she adopted several children herself and then was helping other people with her adoptions too. She had done this many years and retired a year or so ago.

#14. Comes from SE. Our adoption cliff notes.

Well it would take 2 days if I told you our story. In a nut shell adoption is the hardest and most rewarding thing I have ever done. The hardest part was not the mountains of paperwork and the months preparing it. But it was waiting to get the girls home once we new who they were. It took us 11 1/2 months to bring Sara Ava home once we received her referral and 17 mo to bring Lilee home. Just knowing who your kids are and then leaving them in another country is sooo hard. Some people would say why would you keep going over there to see them if it is so hard. The reason we went so many times to see the girls was because they new who we were and developed a strong relationship with us and I wanted to keep that up. They became so comfortable with us on those visit trips. Sara Ava would learn 10-20 English words each visit trip. By them time she came home she new allot of English and after 24 hrs. of being home she said a whole complete sentence. (She came home a 2 3/4) She never had one problem after she came home. She was so comfortable with us and had no problems with adjusting at all. Lilee was 17 1/2 months old when she came home. She had a little more trouble with adjusting but I honestly believe it was because she did not understand English. She was not picking the words up as fast as Sara Ava did. But after a few weeks of being home Lilee settled in nicely!

Now I am tagging everyone who left me a comment. So we can get to know each other better.

Hannah, Rhonda, Heather, Kristy, SE, Jenny, and Lynda.