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Greyhound Couple Answers Call to Adopt
By Rachel Forrester
For many people, the grueling adoption process is reason enough to be swayed from the calling to provide a home to a child in need. For Dr. Curt Powell (BS 87) and his wife Jocelyn (BS 94), however, the hurdles were just a necessary means to the end that was their beautiful, complete family.
In 2012, the couple, along with their two children Cassie and Clay, made the decision to expand their family and unite their lives with three young boys from Ukraine.
“God has blessed us immensely, and we feel called to respond big,” Jocelyn explained in the first post from her May 2012 blog. “Twelve-year-old Cassie was the first to suggest adoption, about a year ago. It had been on my radar for a long time. Quietly. Then in January 2012 when Curt came home on fire about it after spending time with an old friend who had recently adopted two teenage girls from Ukraine, the land from which my ancestors emigrated, it all came together.”
The process was extremely tedious and full of time consuming obstacles. In fact, Curt and Jocelyn spent nearly two years constantly traveling back and forth between the United States and Ukraine. But the family knew they were meant to be together, and they did their best to keep the mindset that “the right thing to do is not always the easy thing.”
In 2012, the family of four visited three different orphanages in Ukraine where they quickly bonded with two brothers, Elijah and Isaac. The adoption took a long seven months, but after a lot of “hurry up and wait,” the boys were at home in Tulsa just in time for Christmas.
But something was still missing. While in Ukraine, the family had learned that Eli and Isaac had another older brother, Alex, who was at a different orphanage – and from the moment they met, Jocelyn knew Alex was her child. The problem was, the family had only been approved to adopt two children, not three.
– Jocelyn Powell
“Say you give birth to a boy,” Jocelyn explained in her blog post from July 2013. “You love him, nurture him, and guide him as he grows into a young man. Now take all those emotions you would have felt over the course of 16 years and unleash them all at once. Sixteen years’ worth of love in each ‘I love you.’ 16 years’ worth of hugs in every hug. Sixteen years’ worth of hurts you've been unable to protect him from. It’s horrifying and beautiful at the same time. This is a fierce kind of love I could have never imagined.”
What was supposed to be a quick and easy adoption to reunite a family turned into a nightmare. Delay after delay took Alex and his family on a roller coaster that lasted another 13 months. In January of 2014, Alex was finally able to join his family in the U.S., and they were finally able to focus on bonding as a family of seven.
“We are all home. It's over,” Jocelyn wrote. “No more endless flights to/from Ukraine. No more leaving my children behind. No more adoption paperwork. Now all of our focus can be directed on bonding as a family of seven and helping Alex adjust to this brand new, very different life in America. It will not be a seamless transition, I am aware.”
Six years later, many memories have been made, and the children have grown. Four of them have summer jobs; Cassie just graduated from high school and is going to Montreal to study German and cognitive systems.
Alex, now 20 years old, recently earned his GED – a tough task after coming to the U.S. knowing no English – and he is taking steps to pursue a college degree. Of course, ENMU is on his list of potential choices. Isaac, Clay and Elijah are in high school and the family enjoys traveling and playing tennis together.
A Portales native, Dr. Powell works a urologist specializing in female urology, splitting his time between St. John Medical Center and Oklahoma Surgical Hospital in Tulsa, as well as at Mercy Hospital in Fort Smith, Oklahoma. Jocelyn, who earned her degree from Eastern in speech pathology, spent time at a private practice before working as a very full-time mom.
Curt’s parents Clyde (MED 69, BS 62) and Glenda Powell (MS 68, BS 63) are longtime Portales residents and owners of the local Sport Lab trophy and engraving shop. Spend a few minutes with Clyde and it’s clear that he and Glenda couldn’t be more proud of their family and greatly enjoy spending time with their grandchildren.
If you’d like to read more from the Powell family’s blog (PowellUkraineAdoption.BlogSpot.com), you’ll find your heart aching and celebrating right along with them.
