At Any Cost

Title: At Any Cost

Author: Mike & Hayley Jones

Page Number: 226

Adult

Warning: this book may convict and inspire you. It is a stirring story of a courageous family. This is the story of a couple, Mike and Hayley, who were called to adopt eight siblings from Sierra Leone. (Sierra Leone is a small country in West Africa on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. It has a population of approximately 7.396 million.) Join them as they share their story.

The story begins with Mike and Hayley sharing a bit of their personal stories and Christian testimony. They both grew up in a small town in Tennessee. Both attended church from little up. Hayley speaks of having a heart for children from Africa even as a young child. She always felt as if she would be a missionary in Africa. Mike also speaks of a relationship with Christ. He is very honest about the bad choices that he made after he moved away to college.

Because of the consequences of the bad choices, he moved home. He attended local college while working for his families’ business. It was during this time that he and Hayley started the friendship that lead to their marriage. They married soon after Hayley had completed college. During the first year of marriage, they experience a good deal of problems. You know, the kind of problems that you have when two human beings aspire towards a good relationship. They are both very honest and open about the mistakes they made. They withhold from blaming each other or other people. They were able to work through their problems and create a strong, stable marriage relationship.

As time moves on, they started a family. Their first son Tyler was born. He was born among a host of complication that affected both Tyler and Hayley. A couple years later, Tucker joined the family. During these years, Hayley was teaching Kindergarten. While teaching, she meet a parent, Erica, who had just adopted a daughter from Sierra Leone. Erica was also establishing a mission called The Raining Season. Years later, when they decided to adopt children from Sierra Leone. They contacted Erica and adopted through The Raining Season.

After meeting with Erica and seeing their options, they decided to adopt an eight sibling group. This group was was living at The Raining Season shelter. They felt God was calling them to adopt from Sierra Leone. They also knew that Sierra Leone was not accepting applications for international adoption. They speak of the difficult times and the long waits to get the papers through a very corrupt government. After many trips to Sierra Leone and much prayer, they were able to secure all the papers necessary to bring the eight children home to Tennessee.

This book speaks of sorrow, hard work and tears. It also speaks of unspeakable joy, answered prayer and God’s exquisite timing. An unforgettable tale that will inspire your walk with God. It’s a must read and honestly, I’m not normally that excited about memoirs. It’s an honest and venerable look at what one family did to rescue eight orphans. They did it with the help of God, their community and family.

Just a note on the age level, mature eighth graders could probably read and enjoy it. It’s a bit graphic around the time of Hayley’s complicated pregnancy and the birth of Tyler. It’s not overly detailed, but it is honest about the procedures. It also mentions in passing Hayley getting a faith tattoo.