Financing Motherhood: Achieving Dreams through Adoption
For Mother’s Day, we love spoiling our mommas with buckets of crawfish, flowers and mimosas flowing galore. While we profess our love to them, especially for dealing with us when we have been our most difficult, one thing that could be forgotten is the journey our moms took on the way to motherhood. Especially when someone is not a parent, it’s easy to be unaware of the roadblocks that can hinder any woman who is hoping to finally earn the title of mom. Member Jena Harmon recalls this journey distinctly and shares how the credit union guided her to parenthood.
Member Adoption Story: Jena Harmon
Since being a member for twenty years, Lafayette High teacher Jena Harmon has been an advocate of the credit union. Prior to her motherhood journey, Harmon was a frequent credit union visitor, to the point that branch staff knew her face by name. She was also well acquainted with Meritus CU’s loan products, and has used our low-rate financing for numerous vehicles and a land loan. Knowing this, she sought out the credit union during a circumstance that most people wouldn’t even think would involve a financial institution: expanding her family. When Harmon was told she would not be able to biologically have children, she immediately started searching for a child to adopt and found a beautiful little girl in China. As most parents know though, parenthood never goes as planned and Harmon found herself shocked when she received a positive pregnancy test shortly after. It couldn't have felt more serendipitous that this happened the same day that she and her husband received a referral for their daughter in China.
This new development excited Jena and her husband--they knew they were meant to have both their adopted and biological babies together. After waiting until she delivered her son, the Harmons left their four-month-old in the care of close relatives, and made the journey to China, post SARS, to finally meet their 9-month-old daughter. After returning from China, though, it wasn’t just their family experiencing growth; their material needs quickly grew as well. Soon a bigger home was needed as well as a much-needed minivan. Next, all the baby gear one can imagine was needed to properly care for two young babies. Harmon and her family came back to the credit union to finance these additional needs, combined with various unplanned emergencies that tend to pop-up for parents.
Adoption for the Second Time
When both children were twelve, Jena and her husband decided they were ready to take a much-needed trip to visit their daughter’s home country, China. During the planning process, however, the Harmons would learn about a 12-year-old orphan boy who was patiently waiting for (and dreaming of) adoption. They immediately fell in love and knew he was supposed to be part of their family. The adoption process was jump started again, with the hope that they would soon be able to call him their own. The Harmons would need to secure financial funds for the pricey adoption process, and once again, they turned to Meritus CU. Through their previous experiences, they knew the credit union would help in this time of need, and provide the best rate while doing so.
“Mother Knows Best”
Just a short few years later, all three Harmon children are 12th grade seniors at Lafayette High School and looking forward to graduation. Harmon remains thankful to the credit union for being present at so many life events and providing as much support as possible. “The world, as well as our family, is constantly changing and it will be bittersweet to see how everything will play out in the future,” Harmon reminiscences. “I am glad that the credit union has been there to meet our current and future needs for the next adventure that awaits us.”
Mother absolutely knew best the moment she saw her future children. At the credit union, we are awed at the hard work Jena and her husband accomplished to make growing their family possible. We couldn’t be prouder to witness the Harmons achieve their dream of parenthood. We know the best is yet to come with these three graduating seniors, along with the whole family. This journey is not over, and we can’t wait to see where else it takes them!
