The Boutin family's hearts, arms open wide for children

A new baby boy was a dream come true. Joy and Stephan Boutin had a beautiful daughter and with the birth of Jacob, their family was complete. Until...

“We felt the world had stopped turning,” Joy remembers. “There are no words to express the shock. We walked into Jacob’s room and he was not breathing.”

Joy had turned in faith to the Lord after Melika was born. Stephan was attending church with his family but had not expressed faith in Christ.

“We were holding Jacob’s lifeless body, and I knew if I ever wanted to see him again, I needed to be right with Jesus,” Stephan recalls. “In that moment, I gave my heart to the Lord.”

After Jacob’s death in 1999, Joy’s dream of two children was replaced with a desire to have a household of children. The small family moved to Syracuse, New York in 2001 to be near some of Joy’s family. There the couple met a little girl named Kylee. She was Joy’s first cousin’s granddaughter and could no longer live with her birth mom. The Boutins set their hearts on adopting her, but it was not easy.

“Jesus proved Himself faithful,” Joy says. “He granted us the strength and endurance for the six-year journey it took. Kylee’s adoption was finalized in 2006.”

Stephan admits they were naïve. There were difficult court appearances and Kylee coming in and out of their lives, twice