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In the summer of 2000, eighteen months after losing their son Jeremy in a car accident, Richard and Sandy Doyle sat in the office of Doug Taylor, executive director of Lafayette Habitat for Humanity. They were there to discuss a fundraiser for the construction of two houses in their son\u2019s memory. One was being built by Jeremy\u2019s former classmates; the other by Richard\u2019s colleagues in the fire department, where he is an assistant chief.<\/p>\nBefore they started in on the fundraiser, Taylor said he wanted to discuss another matter. Taylor, who had recently returned from a work trip in Haiti, pulled out a picture of three girls.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think you should adopt them,\u201d he said. \u201cMy colleagues and I have felt led that you were the family we needed to ask.\u201d<\/p>\n
The three sisters were orphans that Taylor had met during his trip. He had been walking down a path in a remote area when he happened upon Adam Marcelin, a pastor in the isolated village of LaMare.<\/p>\n
The pastor was accompanied by the three girls\u2014Junise, Fabienne and Lucy\u2014as he returned to LaMare from a conference for pastors. While at the conference, Marcelin had been praying for the many needs of the people in his village.<\/p>\n
One of his chief prayers was to find a home for the girls.<\/p>\n
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When they met, Marcelin told Taylor what had happened to the girls. Their parents had died recently, leaving them homeless. Marcelin and his wife (see photo at right) had taken two of them in, while the third was living with a relative. But neither situation was permanent.<\/p>\n
As much as they wanted to, Marcelin and his wife could not afford to care for the girls over the long term. But he knew that they had few other options. He thought, \u201cThere\u2019s no way I can find a home for these girls.\u201d<\/p>\n
As Taylor recounted the story, Sandy took it as a sign. \u201cThe day after the funeral, God had promised me he would return my joy far greater than my sorrows\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
On the outside, it looked like the Doyles had recovered from the shock of losing their son. They had forgiven the young driver who had killed Jeremy. And they had thrown themselves into reaching out to other youth in the community. The Doyles seemed to be doing all right.<\/p>\n
But in private, things were different.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe grieved every night,\u201d says Sandy. \u201cEvery morning, before I got up, I would pray that God would walk with me to help me get through the day. I cried myself to sleep for months. Those were the days I lived from second to second because I missed him. But the strange thing was I was always comforted.\u201d<\/p>\n
John Martz, their pastor, walked with them through the dark days. \u201cThey cried buckets of tears,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
MISSION TRIP CHANGES EVERYTHING<\/p>\n
When the Doyle\u2019s first mentioned the possibility of adopting Junise, Fabienne and Lucy (see photo above), some of their friends thought they were making a mistake\u2014trying to replace Jeremy somehow. But the Doyles took things slowly.<\/p>\n
When Taylor first broached the idea, Richard was opposed to it. Instead, he thought they should send money to Pastor Marcelin to pay for the girls\u2019 care.<\/p>\n
Still, Richard agreed to go on a Habitat work trip to Haiti later that year. He and Eric, the Doyle\u2019s middle son, joined a work team Taylor was leading. Just before Richard boarded the plane for Haiti, he and Sandy had a heart-to-heart talk.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think you are standing in the way of God\u2019s will for our lives,\u201d Sandy told him. \u201cI will be praying that God will show you if we should adopt the girls or just continue to support them. I am asking God to clearly show you what we should do.\u201d<\/p>\n
When he arrived in Haiti, Richard says he started to get out of God\u2019s way.<\/p>\n
Two of the girls were at the worksite when they arrived. Without knowing that the Doyles had been their benefactors, the girls attached themselves to the father and son.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey followed us everywhere,\u201d Richard says. \u201cWe would go into the room we were staying in and catch the girls on our bed going through our suitcases with our pencils and note pads in hand, drawing pictures and eating all our peanuts\u2026it was a sweet sight.\u201d<\/p>\n
As soon as he met the girls, Richard was convinced. When he got home, he told Sandy that he was ready to adopt them.<\/p>\n
There was dissent in the family over the adoption, however. \u201cEric was excited about adopting them because he had met them,\u201d Sandy says. Fifteen-year-old Ben was adamantly opposed\u2014until he met Junise, Fabienne and Lucy.<\/p>\n
Now, she says, \u201che\u2019s so kind and patient with the girls, and he doesn\u2019t view them as \u2018adopted\u2019 but as \u2018his\u2019 little sisters. It was so amazing to see God soften his heart the moment they arrived home.\u201d<\/p>\n
The adoption process went relatively quickly. One of the biggest hurdles was finding birth certificates for the girls as well as their parent\u2019s death certificates. Since those document were in place, the process went smoothly. Within nine months, the sisters arrived at the Doyle\u2019s home.<\/p>\n
At the time, Junise was 12 years old, Fabienne was eight, and Lucy was 5. The Lafayette Covenant Church threw a welcome shower for the girls and donated clothing and other items. Because the Doyles had raised only sons, they leaned on the advice of other congregation members who had daughters.<\/p>\n
| Four-part series<\/p>\n “Losing Jeremy\u2018That Was God Preparing Us for the Girls\u2019”<\/p>\n “Lafayette Church \u2018Adopts\u2019 Village”<\/p>\n “Lives intersect after tragedy”<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n The congregation provided other support as well. Women in the church tutored the girls and shared home-schooling resources. \u201cThe girls had never been exposed to schooling,\u201d Sandy says. \u201cYou can\u2019t just put a 12-year-old in kindergarten.\u201d<\/p>\n For the first few months, Ben and Eric were the family translators, since they had taken French in high school. Sandy was glad they had not listened to her when choosing classes. \u201cI wanted them to take Spanish because it was more practical,\u201d she recalls. Now, she says, \u201cThat was God preparing us for the girls.\u201d<\/p>\n Sandy says that the girls brought an unexpected gift with them from Haiti. When they arrived, joy returned to the Doyle\u2019s house, as Sandy recounted in a 2002 article in the Covenant Companion.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter Jeremy died the laughter was missing from our home,\u201d Sandy said. \u201cBut now with our three adopted Haitian sisters, the laughter has returned to the dining table.\u201d<\/p>\n In part three, the Doyles and their church return to Haiti to help rebuild an entire village.<\/p>\n |