A newborn girl born without limbs and legs was adopted by this couple. They anticipated that the adoption would alter the course of the child’s life, but they had no idea that it would also change their own lives. Their kid with special needs has taught them to appreciate the little things in life and to find pleasure in them.

Maria, who was only six months old at the time, was given up for adoption and put at the Chosen Children Village orphanage in Silang, Philippines. The only difference between her and other children was that she was born without any limbs. Despite this, she was flawless and stunning.

Adrianne and Jason Stewert from West Jordan, Utah, were looking through a list of children who were waiting to be adopted in October 2014. By chance, they came across a picture of Maria.

As soon as they saw her photo, they couldn’t help but fall in love with Maria.

But for the fact that she was born without limbs, Maria was a picture of perfection and beauty.

Adrianne said that they hadn’t actually planned on adopting a kid with special needs at the time, but after meeting her, they couldn’t help but fall in love with her. “She had one of the most beautiful smiles,” she added. “Simply put, we were quite certain that she had to become a member of our family.”

However, for the couple who already had two girls, ages 11 and 13, as well as an adopted boy from the Philippines named Joshua, age 6, it took a great deal of bravery and faith for the parents to make the important decision of adopting a child with special needs, but in the end, they decided to go ahead with the adoption anyway. Joshua was adopted from the Philippines when he was 6 years old.

“We knew that we were able to love her, and that being able to love her was the most important thing!” on Facebook, Adrianne expressed her thoughts.

After a year of waiting, the Stewert family finally made the trip to the Philippines in October 2015 to bring their daughter Maria back home with them.

When they met Maria, who was calm and innocent, their worries faded away.

According to Adrianne, “As it was her first time meeting us, I thought she would be scared and nervous. But she did so wonderfully, and she was so happy and smiling for us, and it was really beautiful.”

The couple traveled all the way to the Philippines in order to bring Maria home.

When the caregiver at the orphanage saw Maria finally meeting her new family, she broke down into silent tears. It was a touching moment for everyone involved.

Everything went well when they brought her to their modest house in Utah, though Maria needed some time to get used to her new surroundings. Despite this, Adrianne believes that the struggles have been worthwhile since “she is so full of light and joy.”

As time went on, Maria and her siblings, especially Joshua, got along well. In Joshua’s eyes, Maria is the same as them; she’s just their little sister.

Life for the Stewerts has been turned upside down when they adopted Maria.
The Stewerts believed that adopting Maria would bring about positive changes in her life… They had no idea how significantly their lives would be impacted by that.

After Maria had been in her new home for a year, Adrianne released a video in which she shared their experience and said, “Special needs adoption has transformed our family forever.” She did this in the hopes that their story might encourage other families to adopt children who have special needs.

“She’s very loving,” said Jason. “She is quite attached to her stuffed animals, and she insists that her tiny bear be fed before she gets any food.”

Maria is “so full of light and joy,” and she is the same as any other child.
Adrianne said that despite her impairment, “She’s doing all the same things as our other kids, but in a little bit different manner.”

Maria is 3 years old and goes to preschool. Once a month, she goes to physical, speech, and occupational therapy. She enjoys listening to music from the 1980s in particular, in addition to playing with her stuffed animals.

She is able to feed herself with the help of a self-feeder, play with a computer tablet, and her favorite activity is coloring with a mouthpiece that was particularly developed for her by a dentist.

“We put limits on what we think she can do, and then we see her do exactly what we thought she couldn’t do,” Adrianne wrote.

Maria is capable of doing a variety of tasks on her own, including using her arm nub to steer her custom wheelchair.

Each of us is better because of her. She has taught us to appreciate the little things, not let our lack of things bring us down, and to appreciate what we do have”, Adrianne stated. “The most significant lesson she has imparted on us is that we are all much more capable than we realize.”

Watch the video of this beautiful family’s interview below: