READING — Nestled amongst the multi-colored Christmas ornaments and homemade paper chain that circles Jared and Randi Bignell’s Christmas tree are hand written gift tags this holiday season. The gift tags have a special meaning to the Bignells and their 2-year-old son Corban this Christmas season. Each tag simply says: To my big brothers. The messages that follow are things Corban can’t wait to share with his two new big brothers. The family has been working on the tags each night during family time. The Bignells are in the final stages of adopting two boys from Ethiopia. Jared, an associate pastor at Sonlight Community Church in Angola, Ind., and Randi, a stay at home mom, have had aspirations of adopting children since high school. They became more serious about adopting after Randi traveled to Ethiopia in February. Randi and her friend Crystal Gingerich of Helmer, Ind., and her mother-in-law Janean Bignell of Coldwater made the trip. The three women traveled to Ethiopia to visit many of the children that Crystal sponsors through the Welcoming Angels orphan hosting program through America World Adoption Agency. “Once you meet the kids in the orphanage, you fall in love with them,” Randi said. She said they began to look into adopting after she returned home in February. “The gift that Corban has been to us made us want to adopt,” she said.
"What they have to gain is so much more than what we have to lose." Randi had the opportunity to meet the two boys, ages 9 and 11, while visiting the orphanage in Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa. The couple said they wanted to hire two older boys because the older children are the ones who typically don’t get adopted. “Since getting involved with the orphan hosting program, we’ve learned just how unlikely it is for older children in orphanages around the world to ever be adopted into a family,” Jared said. “These children know their chances are slim. They are living in hopelessness, likely to become a just another forgotten statistic.”
Jared said the the adoption programs in Ethiopia are well organized and it has been an easy process. The couple is looking forward to traveling to Ethiopia after Christmas to have an initial adoption hearing. After that they will take custody of the boys. Randi said they are hoping to have the boys home by early spring. They said although they are eager for the boys to come home, they have a lot of work to do in preparation. They are currently in the process of finishing up the boys room, collecting furniture and clothes for them. “We have got a lot of donations,” Randi said. “It has been cool to see all the support, we haven’t asked anyone for anything.” The couple said they have had a lot of support from friends, family and people they don’t even know. Just last week they received a phone call from a gentlemen who wanted to help monetarily. Jared said the gentlemen who recently fell ill told us it was his dream to adopt and he wanted to help us, to fulfill his dream. “It was a humbling experience,” he said. To help raise awareness of the need for the adoption of older children the couple has recently wrote a book looking at it from Corban’s perspective. The book “Dear Big Brothers” introduces the boys to the activities Corban enjoys on a daily basis. It is a collection of fictional letters. “Every boy and girl should have a family and you should be in ours!” Corban said in one of the letters to the boys. Randi said the idea just came to them one night. They have been working on the book since May and recently finished it. “It must of been God’s idea because it was random,” she said. “The book has been received really well people are giving us large chunks of money for a children’s book. “Last Sunday at church we sold 56 copies. They have given us a ton of support.”
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