Hubley -- Thanks and God be with you.

Specialists in special children

Hubleys to welcome another blind child into their family

By Jennifer L. Boen

of The News-Sentinel

Books fill shelves, toy boxes and colorful plastic bins in Rebecca and Ryan Hubley's two-story home on a tree-lined boulevard in south Fort Wayne. On the coffee table is a cream-colored, pictureless book with heavy paper pages titled “Mr. Wacky is Wacky!” The tiny bumps on each page indicate it is a Braille book. Beside it is a book about Clifford the Big Red Dog's Valentine's Day adventures.

On the living-room walls are large framed photographs of the blond, blue-eyed Hubley children: Hannah, 6, Micah, 4, and Luca, 14 months. One other photo stands out from the rest. It is of a chubby-cheeked black baby with dark curls and chestnut eyes.

“That's Jonas, my brother,” Micah said. He's eagerly anticipating the arrival of Jonas sometime in November.

The 20-month-old lives in an orphanage in Haiti, abandoned five months ago at a social services agency by his parents, who likely felt their son “would have a better life than if they'd kept him,” Rebecca said. The reason? Jonas is blind.

Adopting a special-needs child for the Hubleys seemed the natural thing to do, the couple said. Hannah was born blind. Micah has spina bifida.

“For us, it's no big deal. I mean, this is just normal for us,” Ryan Hubley said. “Looking from the outside in, I can see how people would wonder why we would want to do this, but this is all we know.”

In a toy box, colored blocks with painted numbers mingle with foam-like shapes on which are raised Braille letters. Micah knows Clifford is red. Hannah just as quickly calls out the color of every shape, her small fingers moving over the raised dots.

The cause of Hannah's blindness is a genetic disorder affecting about one in a million people: familial exudative vitrealretinopathy, or FEVR. When the Hubleys were expecting Micah, they knew he had a one in four chance of having the disorder. Another kind of disability was not foremost on their minds.

But an early ultrasound showed Micah had an opening at the base of his spine, the hallmark of spina bifida. They accepted the news, asked for prayer and support from family and friends, and waited until his birth to know how severe the spina bifida would be and whether he also would be blind.

Micah's eyes are fine. His spina bifida is a milder case; he can walk. However, the birth defect affects the nerves to his bladder and bowel, and his gait is somewhat different from other children. Luca has no apparent physical disabilities.

The Hubleys wanted more children, but after Luca's birth decided if they added to the family it would be through adoption. Ryan wanted to do an international adoption.

In September, Rebecca, a professional artist/photographer and adjunct Huntington University instructor, was searching the Web for agencies and countries to consider. Through Bethany Christian Services, the largest adoption agency in the United States, Rebecca found God's Littlest Angels, an orphanage in the mountains of Haiti near a villager called Fermathe.

Jonas' picture appeared. When Rebecca read he is blind, “I just knew he was the one,” she said. The couple prayed over the matter, discussing the challenges of raising a third child with disabilities. But the day after Rebecca saw Jonas' picture, Ryan called her from Blackhawk Middle School, where he is a teacher and coach.

“He said, ‘I can't get (Jonas) off my mind,' ” Rebecca recalled. “Then he said, ‘I can't think of any reason why not to do it.' ”

Rebecca knows Haiti well — she lived there several months each year throughout her childhood. Her father, Dr. David Brown, a family physician with Markle Medical Clinic, took the family along when he did medical mission work at a Haitian clinic. After Rebecca and Ryan married in 1999, they worked alongside her parents at the clinic for several weeks.

By phone, Dixie Bickel, director and founder of God's Littlest Angels, explained that Jonas was developmentally delayed and not walking yet. Rebecca knew that is common for a blind baby. The two chatted about Hannah and what therapies helped her - therapies Jonas has not had access to. Bickel took notes in hopes of implementing some with Jonas.

Because Jonas is a special-needs child, the Haitian government can expedite a medical visa for him. In addition, $5,000 is available through God's Littlest Angels to cover expenses related to getting Jonas to the United States. The caveat? The Hubleys needed written documentation from local doctors and therapists stating they would provide Jonas' care for free prior to Jonas' final adoption. Rebecca had everything signed and delivered within a week.

Now the Hubleys await approval for his visa. Because Jonas' parents are unknown and cannot sign papers, the visa takes a little longer. Rebecca hopes to fly to Haiti by mid-November to bring him to his new home. Initially, they will be his U.S. sponsors, and will proceed with adoption as soon as possible.

Hannah and Micah talk excitedly about the arrival of their new brother, although Hannah said she wishes she was gaining a sister, not another brother. Micah is already learning the role of sighted guide for his older sister. He's happiest when lots of people are around, and one day asked Rebecca, “Could we bring home all the kids who don't have a mommy?”

Hannah is the only child in Fort Wayne Community Schools with 100 percent vision loss, school officials said. Until Jonas is tested, the Hubleys won't know how extensive his loss of vision is or if he has additional problems.

“It doesn't matter,” Rebecca said. “We're not sending him back. We know this is what God wants us to do. We have so much to offer him. Hannah can teach him Braille, and Micah said he will teach Jonas how to play games. We're a team.”