A few months back a friend of ours reached out asking if we would be interested in being a part of a project she was in the midst of creating. Eli reached out to a friend who does videography work and they set up a day to do some photos and create a video capturing the Kreps family. We went to their home, met their family, sat around their table drinking lemonade and listened to their story. 

Pictured in the following photos are Erik and Sandy Kreps, along with their 8 children - 4 by birth, 2 by domestic adoption and 2 by international adoption. They are currently in the process of "paper chasing" a 4-year-old boy named Ming Yu from the province of Henan, China. Ming Yu will be their 9th child and 5th adoption. 

They first began international adoptions after reading a blog post about their son, Darren, who was 3-years-old at the time and living in an orphanage in China. He was in desperate need of heart surgery and would die without it. They brought him to his new home in Brighton, Michigan in 2012 after an extremely long process jam packed with paperwork. They immediately welcomed him into his new home and began the process of getting him the much needed and awaited surgeries that would heal his heart. Darren actually just went home from the hospital last week after another successful heart surgery. 

In 2014, they went through the same process yet again, traveled to Guangzhou, China and brought home their 8th child, Bryan, who was 3-years-old at the time. Like Darren, Bryan had some medical impairments. For Bryan, this had to do with his lower limbs and means he can only walk when holding onto something. Currently he walks using a walker, as you can see in the photos below. 

Similarly, Ming Yu, or their "9th blessing" as the Kreps affectionately call him, was born with limb differences. He was born with a thumb nubbin and no fingers, one foot with fused toes and the other foot with no toes. And as Sandy said, he is perfect in God's eyes. Just 2 weeks ago they received the long awaited and prayed for "YES" they needed from China to officially call Ming Yu their son. They expect to travel to China and bring him home in August or September. 

In the meantime, as they prepare for their 9th child to come home to them, they're seeking support in order to be able to accomplish such a task. Our friend, Ryan, is in the midst of creating a video about this incredible family, in which they will talk more in depth about who they are and what their mission is (keep an eye out for the completed video!). We hope that as you scroll through the photos below you would consider supporting the Kreps family and their mission. All across the Bible are mandates from God that we, as followers of Jesus, would step into the lives of orphans; to love and care for them, remind them that there is a God in Heaven who promises them that He will not leave them as orphans, but that He is a Father to the fatherless. As believers, we have the privilege of stepping into that. That "step" could come by way of adoption like the Kreps family, or financial and prayerful support.

We feel so blessed by the opportunity we were given to meet the Kreps, to hear their story and to document it. They are walking genuinely by faith, trusting solely in God as he leads them from Brighton to China and back again.

We really, really encourage you to go read more about them on their blog, here. There you will find more about what they've been through, current updates and giving opportunities.

Thanks for reading! 

Eli + Delaney