HUNTSVILLE — Three families attending University Heights Baptist Church are in various stages of the process of adopting orphan children from Russia — joining other families at the church who have already completed the process.

Those families — Jay and Lynn Neathery, Keith and Erin Thompson and Charlie and Amy Benson — will be the beneficiaries of a fund-raiser concert taking place at 7 p.m. tonight at the church to help defray expenses incurred in the adoption process.

These are their stories:



The Neatherys

Walker County residents Lynn and Jay Neathery had already raised three children and were enjoying life as empty-nesters when one special week in July of 2009 changed all that.

The couple welcomed three children into their home for a week through the Gladney Center of Adoption’s “A Bright Futures” camp.

“Our church was asked to take in these Russian orphan children for a week,” Neathery explained. “It sounded like something the Lord wanted us to do.”

So the Neatherys hosted three siblings — Egor, 12, Alena, 9 and Kirill, 7 — who enjoyed a week of horseback riding, swimming and playing soccer with the family. The couple’s adult children, Cara, Jason and his wife Rachel, and Austin joined in the activities as well.

“It was such an amazing week for us — a lot of fun,” she said. “There were a lot of challenges and I was really tired when they left. But it was also bittersweet. It was hard to let them go.”

The Neatherys continued to correspond with the children in Russia, who shortly after arriving back to the orphanage became sick with the chicken pox.

“I could barely stand the thought of them being that sick with no mother there to comfort and take care of them,” Lynn Neathery said. “I continued to pray for a family for them.”

In the mean time, two UHBC couples had decided to take steps to adopt the children that stayed at their home — Keith and Erin Thompson, adopting Sasha, 11, and Charlie and Amy Benson, adopting 7-year-old Ivan.

“Before (the Thompsons) flew to Russia for their first trip, Erin asked me if we were praying about adopting the kids,” Neathery said. “I told her ‘no’, and she told me I’d better start. So I did.

“In a couple of weeks, I worked up the courage to ask Jay to pray too,” she added. “I knew he would pray and make the decision without letting emotions get in the way.”

On Jan. 31, Jay Neathery told his wife he felt God leading them to pursue adopting the three children.

“He hadn’t really talked to me about it, so I wasn’t expecting that answer at all,” she said. “We called our kids on a conference call and got their blessings. They are very supportive and even said they wanted to help.”

Due to rules of the adoption, the Neatherys have been unable to tell the children they are being adopted, but have told them of their plans to come for a visit, which is the first step in the adoption process.

“Now, we are in the process of paperwork and paying for the adoption,” Lynn Neathery said. “I have had some discouraging days, but I continue to be more and more convinced that this is God’s plan for Jay and me.”

As they are just entering the adoption process, the Neatherys may have a long road ahead. It could take six months to a year before they are able to bring the children home.

“I am blown away that God is doing this with our family,” she said. “I am some scared too, because I realize the children have been through a trauma.

“God gave us something we never really had in mind when they came to visit us in July,” she said. “God has done this amazing work in our hearts and in our church and he is going to accomplish this in every way.”



The Thompsons

The Thompson’s adoption story is six years in the making, with the couple traveling to Russia in 2004, and making the journey every year since, to work with the orphaned children there.

“We saw the great need to find homes for these children, and knew in our hearts that one day we wanted to adopt, and we wanted to adopt an older child,” Erin Thompson said. “Most people seeking to adopt want a baby, so after the age of 5 or 6 many of these children have given up.”

In 2007, the Thompsons met Sasha, but he was not available for adoption at the time. The couple soon after, in 2008, gained their own addition with the arrival of their son Isaac, who is now two years old.

“In 2009, we still really wanted to adopt,” she said. “We hosted a child in July, but it was not Sasha. He was hosted by another family. They were the ones who asked us to pray about adopting Sasha.”

The Thompsons turned in their adoption paperwork in September 2009, and went on their first visit to Russia to see Sasha in December. They recently returned from a second visit, where the judge approved the adoption, and will return there on Sunday to bring him home.

“On our first visit we got to know Sasha and learned about his background,” Erin Thompson said. “His greatest desire, he told us, is to have family. I know God placed that desire in his heart.”

The couple are both excited and nervous about Sasha’s arrival.

“Whenever you bring a new child into your home, it is a little scary,” Erin said. “You realize your life is about to change forever — in a good way.”



The Bensons

With three children still at home, Charlie and Amy Benson certainly did not expect to be adding a fourth child to their brood. But they are doing just that in adopting 7-year-old Ivan, who stayed with their family last summer through the Gladney program.

“As well as that went, it was about three weeks after he returned to Russia that we began to feel God tugging on our hearts to adopt this little boy,” Charlie Benson said. “Even our children wanted it as well.”

It was a few weeks before Ivan’s arrival, while at a men’s retreat, that Charlie first began feeling those tugs to adopt — even though he wasn’t sure exactly what it meant at the time.

“One of the speakers talked to us about his ministry to orphans in South America and how he had adopted some of the children,” he said. “When Erin (Thompson) asked us about hosting a child, I thought that was what we needed to do.

“But God always seems to have a different plan than we do,” he said, sharing how little things started happening to make the adoption possible.

“We started seeing financial blessings, receiving donations from people who wanted to help us adopt Ivan,” he said. “It has been really neat to see what God is accomplishing — how he is working to see this happen.”

The Bensons just returned from their first visit to Russia and are still in the paperwork stage. They are expecting a second trip as soon as May, once a court date has been set.

“We are just tickled pink,” Benson said. “We love kids. We love our kids and are looking forward to being able to love Ivan.

“This is such a great opportunity for us to give to a kid that doesn’t have the same opportunities that we do back in the United States.”

Benson’s eyes were opened about the plight of orphans during their recent visit to see Ivan, who lives in an orphanage with 120 other children.

“It was the darkest place I have ever been,” he said. “Those kids didn’t chose the life they were born into. They each have something special to offer this world, but were abandoned by their families.

“It was just an eye-opening experience for us.”



The Need

According to Thompson, of the more than 4 million orphaned children in Russia, 20 percent of those are adopted or are able to survive when they are turned out from the orphanages at 16.

“About 80 percent of them end up involved in drugs or prostitution, and about 10 percent of those commit suicide,” she said. “They are considered the bottom of the bottom, so for most of them, adoption means life or death.

“In the United States there are 500,000 children in the foster care system, and 100,000 of those are awaiting adoption,” she added. “The need for caring families to adopt children is a global one.”

There are many ways people can get involved in helping orphans, Thompson said.

“In addition to adoption, people can sponsor an orphan through organizations like WorldVision or through giving financially to those families who are seeking to adopt,” she said. “Most of all, though, people need to pray for these kids.”

Other UHBC families have adopted internationally and domestically, including Joel and Amy Hambright, who adopted two boys, and Bob and Karen Miller, who adopted two children in August.

“I hope that through this we can raise awareness about adoption,” Erin Thompson said. “People just need to be aware that these kids are out there and are in need of help.”

University Heights Baptist Church is located at 2400 Sycamore Ave. in Huntsville. Admission to the concert is free, but donations will be accepted. Proceeds will be divided equally between the three families.