Academy Family Walks Out Calling of Adoption of Special Needs Children
While visiting with Mikko, their first adopted son, in an orphanage in December 2017, Valerie and Jacob Busler noticed a sprite of a little guy who seemed to have a big heart. God kept the second boy in the Buslers’ hearts, and when they felt that Mikko was stably integrated into the family, the Buslers initiated the adoption process to pursue the second boy met at the orphanage. After months of work and waiting and an added year-long delay due to the pandemic, in April 2021, the Buslers returned to Armenia for the first of two trips to multiply their family.
The first official visit with the Buslers’ soon-to-be adopted second son was surreal, and the director of the orphanage extended an invitation to bring Mikko to the orphanage to meet his future brother. On the same day that papers of intent to adopt were signed, the Busler family said goodbye to their soon-to-be son and now will wait three to six months until invited to return to Armenia to make the young boy part of their forever home.
Daily, the Buslers use photos of their future son to facilitate conversations about him with Mikko. Mikko is excited about returning to Armenia, and on some mornings asks his parents, “Go to Armenia today?” This question always comes with a big smile bubbling with expectation and certainty. God strengthens and encourages the Busler family with Mikko’s hopeful heart – a heart overflowing with delightful anticipation for the day when the four of them will be together as family.