The Drees adopted a boy from an African country.

(Mar. 10, 2010) When Mike and Jennifer Drees got married, they never dreamed they would adopt a child from the other side of the world.

The Drees, married in 1995, learned Natural Family Planning (NFP) from a class offered by their diocese, and had three children of their own. Being open to life was very important to them. At the NFP class, their teachers were “terrific,” and the encouragement they received to breastfeed led to this practice for all of their children.

Their thoughts about accepting children took a different turn from what they expected. “As our youngest turned five, the call to give birth again wasn’t as clear as it had been in the past,” recalls Jennifer. “In fact, my husband and I sensed that we felt a different calling.”

International Adoption

The Drees looked into international adoption. “We prayed that if God wanted us to welcome children whose parents could no longer care for them, He would ‘open the doors’ and show us the path.”

In just about a year after they began their paperwork, they left for Ethiopia to bring home a “wonderful, spirited, creative, ambitious” three-year-old boy. Their children surrounded their baby brother, Ejigu, with unconditional love, patience and joy.

“Michael and I had greatly underestimated their capacity to love and accept a sibling that looks very little like them.” Today, Ejigu tags along to all their activities, attends a preschool CCD class, sings in the parish youth choir, and helps with household chores like his siblings, Jennifer says.

Ejigu had lost both parents before being adopted. “We feel an amazing honor to continue parenting him as his birth parents would have wanted,” Jennifer says. “In our practice of NFP, we realized that welcoming life has many dimensions. Listening to God’s call is at its heart!”

The Drees’ story is recounted on the website of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops.

NFP Classes in the Chicago Area

Classes in the Sympto-Thermal Method of Natural Family Planning are offered by the Couple to Couple League to married and engaged couples, and can be taken at 15 locations in the Archdiocese of Chicago, IL and surrounding area, including southeast Milwaukee and northwest Indiana. A homestudy course is also available at CCL Central.

The next series of classes in northeast Illinois will begin Sun., Mar. 21, 2010 at 6 pm at St. Irene’s parish in Warrenville, IL, and will be taught by Mike and Denise Kenealy, 630-393-2180. To register, and for a list of classes throughout the U.S., go to the CCL Central class locator. Or go to the Chicago CCL’s Classes by Location and Maplinks.