We met at Southeastern Bible College in Birmingham, Alabama in August of 1997. We were married on August 1st, 1998.  We both graduated from Southeastern Bible College by 2001.  In 2004, we moved to Lexington Kentucky where Jeremy became the Associate Pastor at Ashland Avenue Baptist Church.

Beginning on October 26, 2001, God blessed us with the first of now six wonderful children, Titus (7) Nathan (6), Anna (4), Isaac (4) Charis (3), and Jonah (2).  Four of our children came to us biologically and  two of them came to us through the process of adoption.   Every day, as parents, we experience the truth of Psalm 127:3 which says, “Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward.”

For everyone who has placed their faith in Jesus Christ alone for salvation, God has not only saved them from their sins, but has given them the right to be called a son and the privilege to call Him their Father.  Out of a desire to be a reflection of this undeserved reality, on December 22, 2008, we committed to rescuing two boys who were at one time considered fatherless and give them every right to be called  a Haskins.

Their parents were unable to provide for them and four of their siblings who died of malnutrition.  Isaac was 4 years old.  Jonah was 2 years old.  Each carried with them the scars of poverty and suffering.  We immediately began the intense process of adoption, which took us approximately 8 months to complete.  On July 13, 2009 we met our two newest sons for the first time in a transition home in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

TIMELINE

• September 21, 2008 – Announced the decision to adopt
• November 16, 2008 – Met with Adoption Assistance Inc. staff member Amy Kinnell to begin home study
• January 5, 2009 – Began application for I 7HI (immigration document that allows us to bring children from Ethiopia into the country)
• January 22, 2009 – Fingerprinted in Cincinnati for I7IH
• January 28, 2009 – received complete home study in the mail
• February 6, 2009 - all papers county and state sealed
• February 10, 2009 – all papers sent to Washington DC for Department of State and Embassy seals
• February 20, 2009 – all papers left Washington with seals headed to Ethiopia via CCI.
• March 7, 2009 – received approval from our I600A application – I7IH to bring the boys into the U.S.
• March 20, 2009 – received notice that May 6, 2009 will be our court date in Ethiopia.
• May 6, 2009 – Kenesa and Melkamu become Isaac and Jonah Haskins
• July 13, 2009 - traveled and met Isaac and Jonah for the first time.
• July 19, 2009 – returned home with our newest sons