As part of our ongoing forum to encourage our readers “make room for one more,” we’re sharing the inspiring story of the Dyson family of Franklin, Tennessee, who made room in their lives for two little girls from Africa. Through their faith, love and devotion, they continue to help their community and the world. Here is their story.

Making Room for Two More

By Alison Dunn

For most people, cradling someone else’s newborn is a sweet experience and nothing more. For Darlene Dyson, it was a life-changing one. 

A few years ago, Darlene and her husband Brandon were hosting a dinner at their country home in Tennessee.  One family brought their three-week-old foster baby named Asia.  Darlene recalls, “I was so busy with dinner and dessert that at the very end of the night, I’d just gotten to hold Asia when everyone was leaving.”  She insisted, “You can’t go! I just got to hold this baby… you’ll have to leave her here.”

Darlene, a mother of four growing boys, was surprised when Asia’s mother agreed to let Asia have a sleep-over at Darlene’s house. “She hadn’t slept three weeks through the night!” Darlene laughs. “They actually left Asia with us!”

The experience so delighted Darlene and Brandon, the pair began to consider the idea of adopting a child. It was an idea they had toyed with in the past, but with caring for their four boys (now ages 20, 18, 14 and 10), it got pushed to the back burner.

Stepping Out….

The couple began looking into adopting two little girls, because they were keen on adopting a child of a different race and felt it might be better to have two sisters. “Having her be the only girl, the only adopted child and the only cross racial child… that’s a lot of ways to be different. And, while it might not matter at three, it will probably matter at 13. So we started thinking about adopting sisters.”

Darlene got the name of a social worker, whom she called immediately. “She wasn’t in, but her assistant was, and she asked, ‘Do you want to do domestic or international adoption?’ I thought domestic, because I didn’t think we could afford international. She said, ‘That’s not always the case. Have you ever heard of a country called Sierra Leone?’”

“The hair just stood up on my arm,” Darlene recalls. “I said, ‘I’ve been to Sierra Leone, and my in-laws were missionaries there.’”

That was enough to set Darlene and Brandon on their path. As both were children of missionaries and met at a mission school in Africa, Darlene and Brandon were well aware of the atrocities occurring in places such as Sierra Leone. The social worker’s assistant gave Darlene the name of an adoption agency in Oregon that handles Sierra Leone adoptions.

“When I called the agency out in Oregon, I said I wanted to talk to somebody about Sierra Leone,” Darlene says. “This sounds crazy… we’re an older couple, we’ve got four boys, but we think God wants us to adopt two little girls.”

The agency social worker replied, “I can’t believe you said that. There are more twins and triplets in Sierra Leone than in any country we’ve ever worked with,” Darlene says. “She told us, ‘That won’t be a problem.’”

But the process took the Dysons more than two years. They found their girls, a set of twins named Hannah and Hope, but the adoption program in the country was new, the infrastructure wasn’t up to par and the girls were very sick. It took the Dysons a lot of letter writing, red-tape wrangling and praying, but finally, on December 12, 2003, they brought Hannah and Hope home for good.

“When we got them, they were very, very sick. Hannah had actually been in the hospital, which in Africa means she was near death. At two-and-a-half, Hannah weighed only 17 pounds, and Hope not much more. They had little legs, big bellies, bodies covered with sores, dysentery, worms, parasites and more. They couldn’t walk or talk and, if left in Africa, they would almost surely have died.”

Three years later, the girls are virtually unrecognizable. The bright, active, healthy five-year-olds talk up a storm and are excelling in their kindergarten class. By opening up their hearts and homes, the Dysons saved these two incredibly special little girls.

The Story Doesn’t End Here….

Later this month, Darlene is planning to leave on a mission to Sudan with Make Way Partners, an organization that works tirelessly to prevent and combat human trafficking and all forms of modern–day slavery across the globe.

An outbreak of meningitis in the area almost derailed the planned trip, but with a lot of work on the part of medical volunteers, Darlene says it looks like the mission will go as planned. “We might have to tone down some of what we’re going to do, but we will still be able to go in and do some of what we planned.”

Darlene and her family have worked selflessly to help others, and she insists it is something we all can do. “You don’t have to go to Africa to help,” she says. “Just start looking around. You have to look, because we live in a little cocoon. You have to go online, go to meetings, go to fundraisers and open your eyes to what’s out there. You just have to be proactive.”

“There’s a lot we can do that doesn’t have to take up much time,” Darlene says, “Why not befriend a refugee family, helping them learn how to drive, fill out a job application, or have them over for dinner?  By ‘adopting’ one needy family, by befriending them and taking them under your wing, you’re becoming part of the solution rather than part of the problem.”

As for Darlene, is she planning to make room for one more?

“Probably not,” she laughs when asked if they’ll adopt again. “It’s the best thing we’ve ever done, but it’s a hard thing! I’d like to sleep through the night. But I’ve learned to never say never!”