Howland couple say their 'U.N.' was God's plan

By ED RUNYAN | runyan@vindy.com

HOWLAND

United Nations Family

Video

The Rev. Rodd Meyer stands with his oldest son, Fernando, 13, as he talks about the seven children he and his wife, Lori, have adopted over the past 10 years and why they have been described as the United Nations family.

The Rev. Rodd and Lori Meyer never set out to raise a family of seven children from a rainbow of different biological parents, but Christmas will be merry and busy this year as they celebrate with the eighth and ninth permanent members of the family.

When Rodd and Lori began married life, they expected to have children the conventional way, but God had other plans, Rodd said.

The Howland couple tried for 10 years to conceive children, even using fertility treatments, but had no luck. That’s when they considered adoption.

Rodd’s brother had married a woman from El Salvador and suggested that Rodd and Lori adopt a child from there. But before that took place, the couple took temporary — then permanent — custody of Rodd’s 2-year-old niece, Neveah, now 11, because of problems Rodd’s sister was having.

With help back home from Rodd’s mother, the couple went to El Salvador and came home four weeks later with Fernando, now 13.

Later, while living in Southington, Rodd and Lori were asked to care for Johnny, now 8, the son of one of Rodd’s cousins, and ended up adopting him also.

At that point, Rodd said, he was feeling pretty comfortable with the size of their family. But Lori had different ideas and said, “I want more babies.”

So the couple talked with Trumbull County Children Services and decided to become foster parents, which involves caring for children on a temporary basis with the possibility of adopting.

That led to a little girl being placed with them for six months.

“But we had to give her back so she could go with her biological mother,” which was extremely tough on Rodd and Lori, he said.

“My wife said, ‘I’ll never do that again,’” Rodd said.

Rodd, pastor at Howland Glen Baptist Church, gave a sermon just after that based on this Bible verse: “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for such is the kingdom of God.”

Rodd said the couple understood that verse this way: “We take every child as a blessing. It doesn’t matter if they are white, black, red, yellow, purple or green. It doesn’t matter if they are perfectly healthy or not. Children are blessings, not burdens.”

A few days later, Children Services called and asked the couple if they would provide a home for a 5-day-old boy, and Lori said yes.

“Her words were, ‘It’s not his fault. He needs a home, and whatever God’s will is, it is,’” Rodd said. About 21⁄2 years later, they adopted the boy, Jake, now 4.

Next came Mar’shayla, now 7, whom the couple adopted at the same time as Jake. She had been in the foster-care system nearly her entire life when CSB asked the couple if they would adopt her at age 41⁄2.

Last month, the couple adopted two more boys, Johnathan, 2, and Deon, 3, during the annual Trumbull County Probate Court and CSB Adoption Day ceremony at the Trumbull County Courthouse.

An attorney who has helped the couple with the six Trumbull County adoptions called them the “family of the United Nations” because of the varied backgrounds of their seven children — two mixed-race, three white, one black, one from South America.

Lori, who homeschools all seven children with help from Rodd, says people sometimes seem curious when they see the couple with seven diverse children in tow.

“People seem to be saying, ‘Are these all yours?’ But they are all gifts from God,” she said.

The way the family grew to its current size was anything but ordinary or predictable, Rodd said, but he and Lori had faith it was the right way for them.

“We didn’t know where any of it was going to lead,” Rodd said. “The whole thing stems from the desire for us to have children but not knowing where those children were going to come from and how it was going to come about.”

“But the great part is amidst the struggle and the testing of what we were going through, God was faithful. Because even though we tried for 10 years on our own, and it never happened, God had a plan.”

Lori said rearing seven children with different biological parents means their personalities tend to be more diverse than otherwise. But it also seems to have made them more accepting of others, she said.

Whenever Rodd and Lori consider adopting another child, they ask the other children about it first.

“They’re welcoming. They don’t say, “No, we don’t want any more.’ They’re just as open arms as Rodd and I,” Lori said. “The oldest ones have shown that to the younger ones.”