47 www.ReadMPM.com | www.MountPleasantMagazine.com | www.MountPleasantPodcast.com Family is a true gift to some and a source of struggle for others. Starting or growing a family through adoption can be time-consuming, emotionally taxing and financially unfeasible. We all know the impact that adoption can make in the life of a child and in the life of the family who welcomes in someone new. Kristie Radford and Jonathan Peavey have both been personally impacted by adoption and now serve on the board of Gift of Adoption’s South Carolina chapter to assist in providing this gift to other families. Peavey was adopted from South Korea when he was 6 years old. After his biological father passed away, his mother was unable to care for him and his three other siblings. He was adopted by Michael and Edna Peavey of Wilson, North Carolina, through the Holt Agency in 1983. Peavey remembers the culture shock of moving to a new country and reflected that as an adult, he recognizes the opportunities that he was given through his adoption. Peavey had a great childhood with his adoptive parents and said that he knows how blessed he is to have been adopted by them. When he was 24 and a senior at The Citadel, he received a letter from his biological siblings and took it to be translated. Before this point, he was unaware that he had any siblings. Peavey, accompanied by 27 other adoptees from South Korea, was given the chance to go on a Holt Motherland Tour to meet his birth family. It was there that he met members of his birth family and learned he was an uncle. Out of the 27 participants The Gift of Family Adapting to Adoption BY CARI LAWSON family Kristie Radford and her family. Photo by Candice Schneider with Candice Adelle Photography.
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