Photo courtesy of Heather Gniffke Heather Gniffke, left, and her husband, TJ, hope to adopt 6-year-old Noah, center.

ECHO – A mother and her family are overcoming multiple obstacles to adopt a 6-year-old boy from Missouri.

“It’s crazy,” Heather Gniffke said, while talking about her quest to adopt Noah. He entered the care of the Gniffke family over a year ago upon request from his aunt.

“His aunt is a friend of mine, and she came to our house one day and just told us this story about two young boys in Missouri who needed somewhere safe to stay for a while. She asked if Noah and his brother, Isaiah, could stay with my family and I for a little bit,” Gniffke said.

The timing of the request did not happen by chance, though.

“I took a break from social media to read the entirety of my Bible. After I did that, I was praying to God and asking him to use my family for an important purpose,” Heather Gniffke said.

Shortly after, Gniffke said her prayers were answered. But she also said she was being cautious. There were a lot of obstacles and factors that they had to consider before she and her husband, TJ, made this decision.

“We already had five kids, and I had just gotten through a high risk pregnancy. Also, we didn’t have a vehicle that would fit all of these children,” Gniffke said. “A friend of mine had a big red van that they weren’t using and offered it to us – that solved our vehicle problem. It’s so amazing how all of these doors just kept opening up for us, and it was so obvious that bringing Noah and Isaiah into our home is what we were meant to do.”

After a few phone calls with Noah and Isaiah’s mother as well as some praying with family friends and their pastor, the Gniffke’s packed up their vehicle with their young daughter, Faith, and a puppy before making the 11-hour trip to Missouri.

“We didn’t know what to expect,” Heather Gniffke said.

Heather and TJ ended up being in Missouri for six hours working through all of the legality aspects.

“We met Noah and Isaiah’s mom, and she was so nice. It’s like we had already known her,” Heather said. Gniffke said there were few tears shed as the boys left from their mother.

“Everyone was at peace with the situation – even the kids knew it was for the better,” Heather said.

Isaiah and Noah went to counseling regularly while in the care of the Gniffke’s. The counselors recommended the brothers be separated.

“Due to the nature of their past situation, the social workers and counselors said that having Noah and Isaiah together was detrimental to both of them,” Gniffke said. “We didn’t want to separate them, but Isaiah needed a lot more one on one care that we could not offer. He’s currently being adopted by a friend of mine, and he gets to see Noah often.”

“Right away when Noah came here, he was laughing and playing with the kids, like he had always been a part of the family,” Gniffke said. “The bond that he has with my husband, Tj, is so powerful. Tj takes Noah on dates and sets an example of what a Godly man is supposed to act like, and Noah looks up to him.”

Noah also said he loves spending time with TJ.

“It was fun to come to Minnesota because I got to stay in a hotel,” Noah said. “I really like playing in the sandbox, and I love to ride in the combine with grandpa. I love hanging out with dad and I get to pick what we do.”

Gniffke said Noahhas chores and he is really good at setting the table.

Noah ended up staying with the Gniffke family longer than expected, though. Originally it was talked about as a temporary stay of about one year, but while on a visit to see Noah and the Gniffke’s, Noah’s mother requested that he stay with the family longer.

However, after talking through the circumstances everybody involved decided that the best thing to do would be to have the Gniffkes adopt Noah.

When asked if Noah is excited to be in the Gniffke family for forever, a huge smile blossomed on his face while he replied with an immediate “yes.”

The Gniffke’s are having multiple fundraisers to help with the adoption expenses.

“The adoption process is expensive, but we do believe that it is God’s plan to have Noah in our family for forever,” Heather Gniffke said.

Heather and her sister are having a garage sale at Heather’s sister’s house on 209 E Main St (in the alley) in Marshall. It will be held 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday and 9 a.m. to noon Saturday. Everything at the sale will be 50 cents, unless it’s a larger marked item. People can pay more than 50 cents if desired, because free will donations are also encouraged and accepted. Papa Murphy’s pizza tickets will be on sale there too, and part of the proceeds go towards the Gniffke family.

There is a website where people can donate money to the cause of adopting Noah. The link to the website is on Heather Gniffke’s Facebook profile.

“We are looking towards doing other fundraisers, but we will see how this one goes first,” Gniffke said.