The Puelston Family Love Story

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Our adoption journey really began when Kyle went to Haiti in 2010.

Kyle: On January 12, 2010, an earthquake took the lives of 230,000 people in Haiti. In a way that hadn’t happened before with tragedies I had seen, my heart was burdened for this people and country. The poorest country in the western hemisphere was rocked by a natural disaster that would cripple even a prosperous nation.

I went on a medical relief trip to Haiti in May of 2010. I wasn’t prepared for the graciousness, kindness, and joy of the Haitian people during the time I was there. I also couldn’t prepare myself for the pain, suffering, and poverty. I still stay in contact with a Haitian interpreter that I became friends with during our trip. It will be through people like him that real and lasting change happens in Haiti. He is wanting to empower Haitians to work on helping each other rather than relying on outside help continually.

The experiences I had in Haiti changed me forever. On the plane ride home I was given a cold glass of water for the first time in a week. I remember crying over that as I struggled with processing how I have experienced such prosperity in America while others experience such poverty.

To me, on a basic and simple level, adoption means that a child without a family finds a place to belong. A family welcomes a stranger into their home and both parties learn to love and live together. On a deeper level, it means setting aside a romantic notion of adoption being all butterflies and sunshine and acknowledging that the very reason adoption exists is because pain and suffering happened