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Cliff and Wendi Jones are proud adoptive parents to two wonderful children. They are also founders of the non-profit mission, M.I.A.2Hope, an organization that brings hope to folks who have suffered through miscarriage and infertility and who are seeking to adopt. All donations that they receive go directly toward their HOPE Grant, which helps offset adoption expenses for families.
Their website, MIA2Hope.org, has been recently refreshed, and is full of resources for folks who are coping with miscarriage and infertility, topics which are not talked about enough. Their blog is soon to be full of testimonials from families that have been helped through their HOPE Grant.
I had the opportunity to chat with Cliff and Wendi about how M.I.A.2Hope got it’s start, their personal journey that led them to this point, and the role that God plays in their lives and their non-profit. I hope you’ll enjoy hearing their story as much as I did!
Cliff: M.I.A.2Hope got started in 2017 when we were trying to figure out ways to give back for all of the help that we had gotten during our miscarriage and then through unexplained infertility. We thought why not put a voice to it and allow that to be something that [would be] helpful for us to share our story. [We also sought] to allow other people to have a chance to share their story or to find that they’re not alone in the process. There is an organization or people that they can connect with.
Wendi: [Cliff was] in the military at the time, and we’ve always understood the M.I.A. acronym, which is missing in action. We were in Hawaii. [Our son] Braydon was a year old and I was like, “I feel like we’re missing in action. I feel like no one really knows what we’re going through, we don’t know who to talk to, we don’t know who to relate to because it’s not getting talked about enough.” [MIA came from this, and then] “2Hope” [because we are] leading people from feeling like [they are missing in action] to having hope.
Cliff: The amazing [coincidence] was that the “M” [stands] for miscarriage, the “I” for infertility, and the “A” for adoption.
Wendi: We got pregnant, miscarried, and were told we’d have no problems getting pregnant again. We tried to get pregnant again, and never did. Then went through a lot of treatments, and then we realized that this may not be what God had for us. This seemed to be like a closed door. We started pursuing adoption, and then we adopted Braydon and then, maybe five years later, EllaMarie was born, and we adopted her. We had to come to a place where we were going to receive [God’s plan for us], because he had a bigger plan than we had.
Cliff: When we first got married, [we thought we would love] to have lots of bio kids, and adoption was always on the table as something we wanted to pursue after having bio kids. The miscarriage process started around Christmas of 2003. [The doctor told us that trying to get pregnant again would be like a fresh start]. Our [military] base had a women’s fertility clinic that was getting ready to close, so they wanted us to get pushed through [treatments, which didn’t work].
We started the paperwork for Brayden’s adoption in 2006, and I deployed to Iraq in 2007, then came back in 2008. [At that time, we] got a call that there was a birth mom that had matched [with us]. He was born three months later.
[With our second adoption], we thought about it while we were in Hawaii, but Hawaii [makes it tough] to adopt. Then we got moved to North Carolina [around 2011], and we started the paperwork. I deployed for most of 2012, and then got matched soon after I got home from Afghanistan with our daughter’s birth parents. They lived five hours away across the other side of the state. We got a chance to meet with them and they selected us. She was born that October.
Cliff: Adoptions obviously are not inexpensive. In fact, they’re ridiculously expensive. During our initial adoption, the big thing that kept us from wanting to adopt was the costs. We said, “We can’t afford this.” Wendi’s sister-in-law’s brother adopted, and we had a start conversation with him that that year. He said, “How could you put a price on the soul of a child? People take a loan for a home, they’ll take a loan for a car, they’ll take a loan for a boat. You’re investing in a life, for all of eternity, in hopes that the child will believe in God too.” That was the kick we needed, so we jumped in.
One of the things that helped us in the adoption, besides fundraising and our own savings, was a grant that we received from Steven Curtis Chapman’s a foundation. [We thought], how can we pay this forward and help other folks? The idea came up about a grant. The name “HOPE” Grant came from the name M.I.A.2Hope. We wanted to use the funding that we could give to people to help provide some hope.
So far, we’ve been able to help 16 families, with one family actually being helped twice, so technically 17. To date, we’ve been able to disperse $27,000. The way the process works is that we do fundraising throughout the year. [We also have merchandise that we sell through] Just Love Coffee and through Printify. Any funds that come in go directly to our grant. We don’t use them for any other costs, all those are taken out of our own pockets. All those funds go right to helping people offset the costs of their adoption expenses.
Cliff: We don’t really have a typical day – it kind of comes in spurts. [There have been points where we wonder] do we keep trying to do this? [Are we] making a difference? [And then] just randomly, we’ve started receiving some donations that we wouldn’t have expected before. Bigger than we’ve ever had before, [and that makes us think that] God’s wanting to do something with this.
[We recently refreshed our website and have started selling new merchandise]. That’s given us a fresh injection of hope to be able to do more. We’re trying to get ministry out there so we could have more opportunities to share with people, but also to get out to local churches to set up a table and to have this conversation with people. We have been more purposeful with our social media posts, writing for grants, and reaching out for funding.
Wendi: We do more when the window is open for receiving applications.
Cliff: [We take applications for our HOPE Grant in July and August]. In September, our board reviews them and makes decisions. In October we award the grants to the adoption agencies to help to go towards people’s funds.
Wendi: I would say just creativity in getting word out. We’ve never done big fundraising events. It’s just been as God lays on people’s hearts, [they donate].
Cliff: My biggest struggle is to ask for money. I would love it if we had the funds to help pay for somebody’s full adoption expenses. Right now, if we give a $1,500 or $2,000 grant towards somebody’s $56,000 adoption, it feels like it’s just a drop in the bucket. The more funding that can come in, the more we can do to help other people.
Wendi: Blessing the family! We feel like we’re proud grandparents.
Cliff: We’ve had a chance to impact 16 families and 17 children. It’s just a little bit of paying it forward for the people that invested in our lives when our kiddos were born. [I enjoy the] chance to interact and impact.
Wendi: Keeps you humble. You realize that ultimately, God’s going to do the work. We’re just his servants.
Cliff: We’re just trying to be the vessel or the vehicle that he uses to get his mission accomplished, to care for the widow and the orphan. Through our life story, we’ve had ups and downs, but God has kept us afloat.
Have you struggled with miscarriage and infertility? If so, you are not alone! You can find resources to help you at MIA2Hope.org, or learn more about the HOPE Grant.
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