Troy and Sammi Hatfield met in their first year of college, when both were pursuing dreams to become teachers.
They were married 25 years ago, and for many years they tried to have children. They endured several rounds of in vitro fertilization, a complex series of treatments used to assist in conception, but their efforts ended in two miscarriages. The process was long, expensive and emotionally draining. After years of trying, they decided to adopt.
“This was God’s plan all along,” Troy says. “Once we let go of our plan and gave into his plan, it all came together.”
First came Carson. Shortly after she was born, Troy and Sammi applied to adopt her in China. After waiting a grueling 18 months, they got the call to fly to China and bring their daughter home to Kentucky.
In the midst of their joy over having a new child, the family learned Troy had Stage 2 prostate cancer. Carson was 6 months old. He went through treatment, and six years later he is cancer-free.
When Carson was about 4 years old, Sammi began receiving emails again from the adoption agency in China.
“At work she would read these emails and just pray, that all of these little ones would get their forever family,” Troy says. “She kept coming back to this one child on the email blasts, months went by and no one had adopted him or attempted to, and something kept pulling her back to his picture almost every day.”
Sammi told Troy: “I feel like God is talking to us, telling me this is our son.”
Ten months later, they were back in China to get the boy they named Cameron.
“Cam had a rough start to life,” Troy says. He was labeled as “struggle to thrive” and would require several surgeries as he grew.
Today Cameron is 4 and Carson is 8.
“Life in the Hatfield house is often moving a mile a minute, and we wouldn’t change a thing,” Sammi says.
In addition to raising their children, the Hatfields are hosting a Chinese student in a high school exchange program.
Today, despite his medical challenges, Cameron is only about six months behind in his development. Seeing how far he has come is “truly amazing,” his mother says.
Carson is thriving academically and in sports. She is becoming an excellent violin player.
“We feel truly blessed by God every day,” Sammi says.