Community Yard Sale This Weekend For Adoption Benefit

Teagan, Tillie, and Talan Lavoie

Kim and Steve Lavoie believe “love is not born in the womb, it is born in your heart.” A mission trip to Togo scheduled for the summer of 2012 changed their lives forever.

“We really wanted to do a mission trip so we figured we’d just get our feet wet,” Kim Lavoie said. “We started getting our shots at the beginning of March, and I got my Yellow Fever vaccine. I had to sign a waiver stating that I wasn’t pregnant,” Lavoie said, “and it turned out that I was.”

The Lavoies cancelled their mission trip to Togo and Lavoie spent the remainder of her pregnancy worried about the effects of the live vaccine she was given. Tillie Lavoie was born healthy and happy ten months ago.

“She has a birthmark on her forehead shaped just like Mississippi. It’s like God kissed her there.”

After having three beautiful children, Teagan, 5, Talan, 3, and Tillie, Lavoie thought her family was complete. The family had plans to move to Africa and do mission work full time. Then late one night, she saw a picture on Pinterest that would change her life forever.

“It was a picture of an orphan giving another orphan a pitcher of water,” Lavoie said. “Bringing a child home was not what I wanted to do. I wanted to move our family there and get to work in the mission field. But we had a little baby and we couldn’t do that. It’s still in our hearts to do mission work in the future, but we can’t move our family right now and be in a safe position for our children. So then we thought we’d bring a child here.”

After researching various regions in Africa, the Lavoies were called to adopt one of the five million orphans from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Most orphanages do not have access to hospitals and medical care is nonexistent, but adoptions are expensive and the Lavoies are expecting to spend upwards of $60,000.

“So far we have raised $4,100, and that is from selling crafts and very generous friends. We’re seventh in line on the list for a child referral,” Lavoie said. “I would love to eventually adopt a boy and a girl. God gives you the desires of your heart, and I really think this is going to happen. There are so many children in need.”

To help raise money for the Lavoie’s adoption, members of the Oxford community have donated thousands of items for a yard sale hosted by The Orchard on Molly Barr Road. Early birds can pay a $5 entry fee Friday Oct. 4 to have access from 4-6:30 PM. The sale is open to the public Saturday Oct. 5 from 7AM-Noon. Items include bicycles, furniture, books, picture frames, toys, and home décor.

To read more about Kim and Steve Lavoie’s mission, visit their website: http://heartsformore.wordpress.com/

—Emily Gatlin, Editor-in-Chief, HottyToddy.com