Early on in my adult life, I knew exactly what I wanted to be.

When the question of what do you want to be in life was asked, my friends would typically reply with what their career goals were.  As for me, I yearned to be a Father so I could share the same love that was exemplified by my father.  Growing up as the youngest of 5 children with 2 loving parents, I saw firsthand how much my father loved our mother, all of us children but most of all how much he loved God.

Michelle and I met in college during my last quarter and instantly there was a spark.  A little less than three years later we were married.  Early on, Michelle and I both agreed that we wanted to have children but would wait a couples years after we were married before we would start working on our family.  Michelle and I were both raised in families that put God first and we wanted to recreate that with children of our own.  Unbeknownst to us, God had a special path laid out for us.  After five years of struggling with infertility and suffering multiple miscarriages, God laid it on our hearts to adopt our first child. After all, as Christians we are all adopted into God’s kingdom through Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1:5).

If you know my wife then you know that she researches and finds out all she can about something before making any big decision.  So before we decided on what agency we should move forward with on our adoption journey, we researched and spoke with friends.  The fact that Lifeline is a Christian based organization was the biggest draw for us.  Then once we met our social worker (Renee) we were reconfirmed that Lifeline was the right decision.

The day that Michelle and I received the call that we were chosen was one of the best days of our lives.

Our birth mom had chosen us with less than a month before her due date.  We were beside ourselves knowing that we would soon be parents to a baby boy.  With help from our family, we were able to get everything we needed in that short time so we would be ready for our son to come home.

On September 20^th, 2010, our son was scheduled to be born.  As you can imagine, we barely slept the night before.  We were fortunate enough to be at the hospital for his arrival into the world.  At 1:57 p.m. our lives were forever changed for the better.  We were now parents to a healthy bundle of joy.  A little less than an hour after Connor was born, Michelle and I were able to hold him in our arms and experience that feeling for the first time of holding our precious son.  If you are a parent then you understand that feeling that comes over you when you hold your child for the first time, you truly get a sense of God’s love for us.  Being a father is by far the most rewarding and hardest job a man will ever have.

Dustin Jowers, Lifeline Father

During the month of June, Lifeline is honoring and highlighting godly men who are caring for the fatherless. Learn more HERE.