In June, 2004 we met Simone and Alexia while on a mission trip with their church's youth group to a children’s home in Jamaica. Linda was working with the girls at an orphanage with Andrew was with the boys painting a house belonging to Miss Nell. Miss Nell is the head of a small school that teaches 40 pre-school children. As Andrew was painting in the kitchen he saw a young girl standing by the doorway in another room watching him. The next thing he knew, she had worked her way into the kitchen. Andrew started talking to her and found out her name was Simone. As he asked her questions about her life in Jamaica, he saw a hopelessness in her eyes. Later when talking to Linda about his day, he recounted his encounter with Simone. They instantly felt a need to help Simone have a better future than the prospects she faced in Jamaica. After discussing the possibility with Miss Nell and the houseparents at the mission home, it was suggested that they try to get a temporary visa for Simone to visit for 6 months at a time.
Once returning home from Jamaica, they began to research this posibility but found that non-immigrant visas were extremely hard to get. And each time you applied for them, you had to pay $100 to the US Embassy. It actually appeared to be easier to adopt her then to just have her visit for 6-months and they were even more excited about that prospect. They called the houseparents to see if Simone's mom would consider letting them adopt her. A few weeks later, they got a call saying YES - Simone's mom would be willing for Andrew & Linda to adopt her. But that wasn't all! Simone had a sister, Alexia, and she would also like to be adopted.
In June, 2004 we met Simone and Alexia while on a mission trip with their church's youth group to a children’s home in Jamaica. Linda was working with the girls at an orphanage with Andrew was with the boys painting a house belonging to Miss Nell. Miss Nell is the head of a small school that teaches 40 pre-school children. As Andrew was painting in the kitchen he saw a young girl standing by the doorway in another room watching him. The next thing he knew, she had worked her way into the kitchen. Andrew started talking to her and found out her name was Simone. As he asked her questions about her life in Jamaica, he saw a hopelessness in her eyes. Later when talking to Linda about his day, he recounted his encounter with Simone. They instantly felt a need to help Simone have a better future than the prospects she faced in Jamaica. After discussing the possibility with Miss Nell and the houseparents at the mission home, it was suggested that they try to get a temporary visa for Simone to visit for 6 months at a time. 
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