Our Story We would like to introduce you to our family. My husband Dale and I met at Michigan State University. We have been married for 17 years. We have three biological children and one adopted from China. Soon there will be two wonderful additions, making us a family of 8. We will start out with the Dale. He is a veterinarian who owns his own business in a small town. Along with keeping busy with work and kids, he finds time to belong to many community organizations and volunteers at the schools. Dale enjoys outdoor activities such as fishing, back packing and snowmobiling. He also enjoys reading and traveling. I am a veterinary technician. I used to work with my husband until I became too busy with the kids. I am now a stay at home mom who never sits still and loves every minute of it. I am very blessed to be able to stay home with our kids. I enjoy volunteering at the school, hiking, four wheeling, reading, knitting, and watching the kids play their sports. Trevor is the oldest of our children at 14. He loves football, baseball and basketball. When he is not in school or at a sport, he enjoys fishing, hunting, riding his dirt bike, snowmobiling, and hiking. Haley is the next in line at 13. She is our dancer. She does tap, ballet, hip hop, Celtic, point, and she assists in a younger kids' class. She also plays volleyball and basketball. She is a typical teenage girl who loves her phone, computer and shopping. Haley likes to drive her four wheeler and snowmobile. Seth is 8 and getting busier every year. He loves school and can be found doing studies even when he is not there. He is also into sports and plays baseball, football and basketball. In his spare time he likes video games and loves to fish. Lydia is the youngest in our family. We adopted her from China in 2007. She has been a real joy to all of us. Lydia loves to be read to and to do anything her siblings are doing. She is a busy girl and has us laughing all the time. Dale and I knew that we wanted to have a large family but did not know how God would use us to achieve this. We started having a burden for the millions of children in our world that need a family and through a lot of prayer and research, decided to add to our family through adoption. First we tried to adopt through foster care, but the children that we were fostering went back to their biological parent after a year of being with us. We tried several months after that to find children that were ready to be adopted, but had no success there either. Next we looked into international adoption and chose China. That is how Lydia came to be an Ackler. It has been a wonderful experience. We all feel that she was meant to be with us, and it is like she has always been here. We fell in love with China and look forward to taking her back to her birth country some day. People have asked us why we want to adopt more. It is a feeling deep inside that you just can’t explain. You feel a yearning, a calling if you will, in your heart. Dale and I just looked at each other one night and said, you know, I really would like to adopt again. We had both been thinking the same thing at the same time. Coincidence? I think not. God has His hand in everything we do. We began to research and pray as to where God would lead us this time. There are many countries, but we weren’t sure where we should adopt from. We visited our adoption agency and started to do some research. The choices of countries were narrowed for one reason or another until one country stood out. Ethiopia was to be our new added home. For you see, when you adopt internationally, you not only bring your child home to their new home, you adopt their birth country as well. Our biological children came with us to China when we adopted Lydia. They now have an appreciation for a country that is half way around the world that is unique to most kids their age. Although they will not be able to come with us to Africa, they will learn about it through this blog and their new brothers. They are looking forward to meeting them. We are all excited about the blessings that our family will receive with our new children as well as the new adventures we will all undertake together.         This page hosted by