Orphaned Siblings Join A New Big Family
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) - Given an opportunity for adoption, a pair of brothers wanted their younger sibling to have a home first.
Touched by their selflessness, a St. Paul family is now on a journey that will change those boys' lives and their own.
Megan Quiggle refers to herself as "a chosen child." She was adopted by a large foster family.
"They actually had 49 foster babies throughout their fostering career, but I was the only one they adopted," Megan said.
Having a full house already, adoption wasn't a necessity for Megan, but it's a concept she's always understood.
"It is very clear that we are created to be in families and to have parents," she said.
So Megan and her husband, Barry, decided to do more. They would sponsor a child from an orphanage in Haiti for $30 a month.
But when they couldn't decide which one to sponsor, they turned to their children Hannah and Noah for help.
'They said, 'Pick which one we want to sponsor,' and me and Noah talked for a little while, and I picked Hannah's … yeah, we picked this one!" Hannah said.
Through the Quiggles' church, Megan and Barry went on a mission trip to the Haitian orphanage where their sponsor child lived. Barry said the affection from the orphans was plentiful.
"They were so happy, they were hugging me, overjoyed," Barry said.
Little did they know, Jameson had two younger brothers.
"Honestly, when I walked into the orphanage, I started balling immediately," Megan said.
After a devastating hurricane in 2004, the boys' mother was left penniless. She sent all three - ages 11, 8 and 5 - to the orphanage and never returned to pick them up.
On the Quiggle's last day in Haiti, Jameson told Megan something that would change their situation, and lives, forever.
"He says, 'Well, Edson and I have talked, and we want you to take Michael first,'" Megan said.
The older brothers wanted their youngest brother to have a home before them. It was out of the question, Megan thought. Only in their wildest dreams would the Quiggles take all three siblings.
"So I was getting ready to leave and I was so emotional, I…thought I don't even want to see them, I don't want to say goodbye," Megan said. "Jameson found me, and he had these little pictures that he and Edson had drawn for my kids…(tears)… And then he said 'I'll pray for your kids,' and I couldn't stand it, because here's this boy who has nothing. Nothing. He eats twice a day, and he's going to pray for my children who eat when they want to," Megan said.
The Quiggles didn't go to Haiti to adopt. It was the boys' selflessness that inspired Megan and Barry to adopt all three of them.
And Hannah already seems to have the roll-call down.
"Jameson, Edson, Michael, me, Noah, Hezekiah, and Danberry," she said.
Two sets of children, from two sides of the world, soon under one roof.
Dreams will take shape a year from now, when these three little boys walk through this door.
"I really feel very peaceful about it, because it's what we're called to do," Megan said.
Megan and Barry are now finishing up the paper work for the adoption. Before it's all said and done, bringing the boys home will cost them $20,000.
If you'd like to donate to their adoption fund, the Quiggle family will have a fundraiser garage sale from July 12-13 at 2240 15th Ave E, North St. Paul, MN 55109.
Donations can also be made to the Quiggle Family Adoption Fund at any Wells Fargo Bank.
