How to Find Someone to Adopt My Family for Christmas 2018 in Iowa

Editor's note: A previous version of this column incorrectly spelled Whittley Norton's proper name.

WhittleyMarquez told Emily Summers to stay abroad from her the first time they met.

Whittleywas a 2nd-grader at Franklin Elementary School in Muscatine and had already attempted suicide once.

Emily was half-dozen years older thanWhittley. She volunteered for a mentoring program for younger students and planned to tutorWhittleyin math.

ButWhittleyrefused whatever kindnesses.

Family members "used to tell me I was worthless,"Whittleysaid of her childhood surround. "I always felt similar I shouldn't be live, that I didn't deserve to exist in this globe. I couldn't procedure that someone wanted to actually help me or care well-nigh me."

Whittley'due south try to push Emily away was a failure. Emily and her married man, inspirational speaker Chris Norton, adoptedWhittleyon Dec. 11.

The adoption was unusual:Whittleyis 19 and an adult. Her new parents are only six years her elder. But this has been a match more than a dozen years in the making.

Low moments and a lot of listening

Emily kept subsequentlyWhittleydespite the younger girl's protest. She encouragedWhittleyto stay in school. Emily invitedWhittleyto church building and hopedWhittleywould take God into her heart.

"I don't know if I would accept thought of it this way when I was in loftier school, merely I definitely felt matronly towardWhittleywhen we were growing up," Emily said. "I wanted to take care of her, and the difference in historic period didn't seem weird to me."

Whittleywas disinterested in church and became increasingly uninterested in living. She shuffled between foster homes later on being removed from her biological parents.

By the fourth dimensionWhittleywas a sophomore in high school, she was abusing booze and marijuana. She had attempted suicide multiple times.

Whittleysaid she can't remember all the abuses she suffered as a child, simply information technology was mental and physical.

"I kind of have put a block on my retentivity of those times," she said.

Still, Emily remained by her side. She prayed forWhittley. She cried forWhittley. But almost of all, she showed up forWhittleyand she listened toWhittley:

"I can't explain in words how frightened and terrified I was that something bad would happen to her," Emily said. "She would be in the hospital after a suicide endeavour and information technology was extremely hard for me to cope. I wasn't certain what to exercise. I had to learn to put information technology onto God."

Whittley'southward steadfast rejection of Emily continued. They debated the existence of God.Whittleyremembers one evening the two walked to a riverbank somewhere in Muscatine.

The pair talked nigh faith, religion and God for more than iii hours. As night fell,Whittleyfelt something move inside her, something that was more than only self-loathing and pain.

"I started to believe in God that dark,"Whittleysaid.

A long letter and a less-than-sincere asking

The transformation inWhittley's life was non instantaneous. She still fought addiction and suicide attempts.Whittleywas 17 when she wrote Emily a long letter.

Emily had married her longtime swain, Chris Norton.Whittleywas a bridesmaid in the hymeneals. The couple moved to Florida where they started working as foster parents.

Chris is an Altoona native who starred in football and basketball at Bondurant-Farrar High School before suffering a critical neck injury that left him paralyzed from the neck downwardly during his first year at Luther College in Decorah.

Years of intensive rehab allowed Chris to regain much move, including walking with assistance at times. Chris made international headlines when he walked across the stage at his graduation.

He's since appeared in a motivational flick about his life, co-written two books, 1 with his begetter near the part of religion in his recovery, and the other with his wife almost their life leading upward to walking down the aisle with his bride on their wedding twenty-four hour period.

Chris first metWhittleyat a party to celebrate Emily's graduation from Iowa State University. He took to her in the aforementioned mode Emily did. He grew to love her and worried virtually her mental health.

Whittley's letter asked Chris and Emily to foster her for her last year in the system. She would no longer qualify for country services at 18.

Both Chris and Emily believed this was their calling.

"The question we both asked each other is what will happen toWhittleyif we don't bring her here," Chris said.

ButWhittleysecretly hoped simply to get to Florida, drop out of school and do whatever she wanted.

"I was basically (curse) them,"Whittleysaid.

Emily and Chris, however, were not easily swayed. They wanted to aidWhittley, just they would not be party to her willful self-destruction.

Emily and Chris agreed to takeWhittleyin with one stipulation: She had to finish high school.

"If she quit, the deal was off and she would accept to get back into the system in Iowa," Emily said. She and Chris yielded no ground.

Whittleyacquiesced and toed the line. But with foster parents merely half-dozen years older than herself,Whittleystumbled into some amusing situations.

One mean solar day,Whittleygot sick at school. Chris went to selection her up. The part staff stared at Chris for a moment and told him that students couldn't cheque other students out of school.

"I had to do some fast explaining," Chris said.

Emily pushedWhittleyto achieve in school.

"I recollect I had, like, 3 tutors at ane time,"Whittleysaid.

Information technology worked.Whittleygraduated from high school. She moved back to Iowa and started taking courses at Muscatine Community College.

Whittleygets her Christmas wish

But she struggled with low and anxiety being away from Chris and Emily. And, truth exist told, Chris and Emily missedWhittley, too.

The couple invited her downward to Florida for a weekend in early Dec. The invitation surprisedWhittley. She had just visited for Thanksgiving. The trio sabbatum downward at the tabular array. Emily set up a video recorder.

Emily askedWhittleywhat she wanted for Christmas.Whittleysaid she wanted to be adopted.

"What would that mean to you?" Emily asked.

"Information technology would hateful that I actually belonged to someone,"Whittleysaid, choking upwardly every bit she spoke, "and that I'm not only some stranger in the world, that I actually have a family."

Emily gaveWhittleyan early Christmas present.Whittleypulled out a board that read 12-11-18.

"Do you become this?" Emily asked. "Guess what's on Dec. 11, 2018? We're going to adopt you!"

Whittleycried. Emily heldWhittleyin her arms.

"You lot know you lot've always been ours," Emily said. "We want to make it official for you."

Chris put his arm around her shoulder: "Y'all belong."

The move was official Dec. eleven in Muscatine County District Court.

Later more 2,000 days in xix foster care placements,WhittleyMarquez becameWhittleyNorton.

And she finally found a family to call her own.

Columnist Daniel P. Finney grew upwards in Winterset and e Des Moines. Reach him at dafinney@dmreg.com or 515-284-8144.

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Source: https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/local/columnists/daniel-finney/2018/12/26/foster-care-adoption-chris-norton-luther-college-iowa-woman-finds-family-paralysis-football/2387282002/

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