While Cody and Anthea Comardelle had always talked about adopting a child, they didn’t expect the process to go like it did. But then again, they did launch their adoption journey in the quite unpredictable year of 2020.
“It’s been an awesome world wind,” Cody said of adding to their family.
Anthea explained how it all started.
“Adoption was always on my heart since I was a little girl,” she said. “I always knew growing up that I would adopt and when I met my husband it’s something we talked about.”
That talk was put on the backburner as the couple journeyed through married life. They eventually had their son Levi, who turned 7 this month, and in 2020 the adoption talk turned serious.
It was in the summer that they decided to go forward with a plan.
“We applied with an agency in late August and we were called in October and asked how far along we were in the home study because there was a baby due in January,” Anthea said. “Everything happened so quickly. We were open to either international or domestic adoption, but with COVID we couldn’t even fly out the country. We didn’t care if it was a child or a newborn.”
The quick process meant the Boutte couple had to come up with adoption funds – totaling a little over $50,000 – fast.
“Our community … we’re just so blown away,” Anthea said. “It was about $53,000 that we needed and from August to December we raised $30.000. Our community is small, but their love and support was huge.”
From pancake fundraisers and biking pledges to pie sales and silent raffles, and a few other things in between, the Comardelles said they were overwhelmed with people’s generosity and kindness.
“We’re so blessed with as much as we were able to raise,” Anthea said, adding their church family at First Assembly in Des Allemands played a huge part in the success of the fundraising.
Anthea said Levi was just as excited as the couple was about adding to their family.
“Levi was praying for over a year for a baby brother,” she said laughing, adding that at first the adoption agency told them the baby would be a girl.
But the agency was wrong.
On December 25 Jeremiah Dimitri was born.
“It was the best Christmas present ever,” Levi said. “Even over my motor bike.”
Anthea said God answered everyone’s prayers about the adoption process, but that she was particularly happy to see Levi’s prayers for a brother answered.
“We were blown away about the goodness and awesomeness of God to answer that,” she said.
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