Maisie’s Family

We are Jonathan (JJ) and Makayla. We are both from Arkansas and currently still live in Arkansas. We met during our first year of undergrad at Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia. We got married four years later. We go to church in Little Rock, Arkansas and we volunteer with the children’s ministry, youth ministry, and worship ministry. 

We were confident that adoption was the route for us to grow our family. From early on in our relationship, even before we were married, adoption was a part of the conversation. Makayla started a job as a paraprofessional in 2020 that radically changed our life. It started as a way to make money to support me (JJ) in medical school in the middle of a pandemic, but quickly turned into a passion of hers. Makayla approached me about the idea of adopting a baby with special needs, Down syndrome specifically. At first, I was scared and very apprehensive. I spent 3 years praying alone, with Makayla, and seeking wisdom from others when eventually God changed my heart. 

We feel that every child deserves a loving and supportive home where they can thrive because they were all made in God’s image. We feel called by God to start our family through adoption and offer love to a child who might not receive it. After we got our home study approved, we entered into the NDSAN. We were officially open to adopt a child with Down syndrome in August 2024. Before our match, we were doing fundraisers to raise money and our church let us speak on the Joy of Adoption, share our testimony, and light the Joy advent candle. 

In January, we received an email notifying us that a child was potentially up for adoption. We instantly said yes and started praying that this would be a match. January 7th, we got the call that we had matched with this birth family!! Soon after, we met the birth parents and made everything official. Birth mom was 31 weeks pregnant and had shown some signs of preterm labor, so we started making preparations to bring our baby home. February 22, birth mom called us to say that she wasn’t feeling well and the next day, we got a call that she was headed into labor. 30 minutes later, our baby Maisie was born! We got on a plane the next day and flew to California to meet our baby girl. Ever since then, we have been in love. She brightens every room she is in and is a smiley happy baby with a full head of hair! It has been an incredible journey filled with joy and baby snuggles.”