From Staff Reports
Adoption and a forever family are special to JoDawn Miller and her husband Justin, who is the pastor of the First Baptist Church in Puxico.
"We as Christians believe that we were once spiritual orphans in need of a Savior to rescue us from our sin, and the God of the universe chose us, pursued us and initiated our adoption into His forever family," JoDawn said.
The Millers decided "to pursue our fourth child through adoption because we wanted to do a little bit of what God did for us." The Millers have four children: Kaleb 16, Ella 5, Isaac 3, and Eden 2.
JoDawn will share the family's journey at a Women's Conference beginning at 6 p.m. Friday, Nov. 17, at the First Baptist Church in Puxico. The event is free.
"Eden has been with us for one year," JoDawn said. "We brought her home last Nov. 22."
JoDawn said, "physical adoption is a picture of the gospel, and as Christians we wanted to represent Christ and what He did for us by rescuing a child in dire need of a family. A child who had no hope. God led us to India for several reasons with the number one reason being the amount of unreached people in India, who have no access to the gospel, and no church on every corner to teach them the way of salvation. This breaks our hearts. God wrote a beautiful story through our adoption journey and I look forward to sharing it for the first time with this community who supported us all the way.
The Millers adoption process took about one year from start to finish. JoDawn said, "Our process went very smooth and fast thanks to God's grace. God also provided every single penny of the expenses through generous donors, fundraisers and grants from Christian nonprofits. Our faith grew exponentially and we saw God move in ways that we had never experienced before by stepping out in faith."
The church is located at 125 S. Turnbaugh St. behind Bill's Market in Puxico. Dessert and coffee will be served after the program. The public is invited to attend.