The adoption story of Jonathan Saylor

Ashley Hunter
ECB Publishing, Inc.

On Wednesday, Feb. 12, one-year-old Jonathan Ryan Saylor became his parents' son.
While most families are born, some families have a unique story that doesn't involve birth, but adoption instead.
For the Saylors and their son, such a start was their own.
Brian and Louisa Saylor were married in September of 2007, and shortly after, the newlyweds learned that they would not be able to have biological children.
The news struck hard, but Louisa said that she and her husband began looking for other ways to expand their family.
“After that, we just started praying for the children that God would bring into our lives someday,” she says. “We've always known that adoption was going to be a part of our lives.”
As Christians, both Brian and Louisa prayed earnestly for children, even if those children were not biologically theirs, or even legally their own.
“Part of what we had been praying and thinking about was, if we couldn't have our own kids, then we want to have spiritual children,” adds Louisa.
The Saylors began a college ministry in Kentucky, where they worked with college-aged youth who, Brian explains “had families but were looking for spiritual guidance.”
It was more than a Sunday-morning ministry, but an every-day, every-week journey of being involved in these young adults' lives.
“It was the answer to prayer that we never even thought about,” Brian adds. “We were able to see God provide for us in a way we never expected."
“He gave us so much contentment with the children that he'd given us, these spiritual children," Louisa adds. "We adopted them, and that's what God's family does, we adopt each other."
In April of 2018, the Saylors moved to Jefferson County to begin their ministry at Elizabeth Baptist Church (EBC).
Brian had recently graduated from seminary, and the couple was looking for a full-time ministry position, and a pastor role opened up at EBC.
The Saylors applied, and they were selected as the EBC Youth Pastor team.
“It was hard leaving our kids,” explains Brian, but when the Saylors moved, they continued to stay in contact with the young men and women whom they had fostered friendships with.
They found a family in Jefferson County as well.
“We fell in love with the people, with the ministry, the community, the vision and everything the church had going on,” says Brian.
Through it all, though, the Saylors considered legally adopting a child of their own, even as they built their child-focused ministry.
Shortly after moving to Jefferson County, the Saylors met an infant girl who was being fostered by one of the Saylors' friends.
“We weren't sure where her life was going, if she would need to be adopted, if she would continue to be in foster care or if she was going to go back to her family, we just weren't sure,” said Louisa. But as they built a relationship with the little girl, the Saylors decided that should she need an adopting home, they wanted to be the first ones considered.
The Saylors sent an application to the Florida Department of Children and Families, and that application was approved in January of 2019.
“We'd been building a relationship with her since May of 2018,” says Louisa. “We had such a strong relationship with her.”
With the application accepted, the Saylors were looking to fully bring this little girl into their home – and then a distant family member came forward and offered to give the little girl a home.
“They were granted the adoption over us,” says Louisa.
“It was really hard,” Louisa adds. “We were sharing weekends and we had a room ready for her – she was calling us 'Mommy' and 'Daddy'...and then we got the letter of denial in June.”
Both Brian and Louisa said that they had to take the news and grieve it, and in the meantime, they flung themselves back into their ministry efforts at EBC.
“We had figured that it was just not meant to be,” Brian said, adding that as well as losing the adoption, they had also endured several miscarriages.
Once more with their aim to support their spiritual children, the Saylors stopped thinking about building their own family – and that was when they got the call that would change their lives.
On Thursday, Oct. 9, a Tallahassee family attorney contacted the Saylors and asked if they would consider taking in a little, eight-month-old boy who needed an immediate home.
“At first, we just looked at each other and thought, 'no',” said Brian, saying that they were still healing from the pain of losing their first adoption
But then Louisa called back on Friday, Oct. 10, and checked in to see if the little boy had been placed yet, and he hadn't.
On Sunday, Oct. 12, the Saylors met the birth mother and baby and found love at first sight.
“We knew at that point,” said Brian.
According to Louisa, the birth mom never met with any other inquiring couples, and right away chose the Saylors as her baby's future family.
The following Friday, a week after that original call, the Saylors brought their baby home.
Right away, Jonathan fit right in with not only the Saylors’ lives but the community around the Saylors as well.
“[Everyone] completely overwhelmed us with love, support and resources,” said Louisa. The Saylors' church family, friends and even total strangers brought the family diapers, new clothes and formula. “I've always been told that when God provides, he provides in abundance. I can definitely see how that has happened. He has provided in ways that we didn't even know that we needed.”
The Saylors called their new son Jonathan Ryan, with the name being inspired by the deep friendship between the Bible's David and Jonathan, a friendship that the Saylors felt they too had felt by those who had brought them this far.
The “Ryan” in his middle name, too, is inspired by the Saylors' friendships.
One of their first Spiritual Children was a young man named Ryan. The Saylors share that Ryan was struggling with a past of his own, but continued to be one of the most spiritually charged and passionate Christians the Saylors had ever met.
His friendship with them influenced their future paths and inspired them to give aid to young people in need of a helping hand.
When their friend passed away, the Saylors became all the more impassioned to help others with stories similar to Ryan and giving their son their friend's name was a way of honoring Ryan's memory and the role he played in their lives.
“This was a way to honor him, and what he meant to us,” adds Brian.
Jonathan Ryan Saylor is also touching lives, although he's only been with his family since October.
“People are being touched not by Brian and I, but by what God is doing through this baby,” says Louisa.
Throughout the whole story, from their inability to have children, to the day that Jonathan came home with them, Louisa says she has been able to reach out to others and share the gospel with them.
“There have been so many opportunities to share the love of Jesus, and that's exactly what we wanted,” she adds.
On Wednesday, Feb. 12, several months after bringing Jonathan into their home, the adoption was made legal.
With a ceremony held in the Leon County Courthouse during a foggy morning in Tallahassee, the Saylors officially adopted Jonathan and dedicated their lives to raising and parenting him.
“We ourselves have been adopted by Christ,” said Louisa. “We always had a desire to have a tangible example of that, of that beauty. Adoption was one of those opportunities.”
Brian adds: “We are excited to see him grow in this community.”
Brian Saylor is the Family and Missions Director at Elizabeth Baptist Church, and Louisa is a fourth and fifth-grade teacher at Aucilla Christian Academy.