“America’s Got Talent” contestant Michael Ketterer admitted he wasn’t ready for parenthood when he married his wife Ivey. In the latest White Chair film, videos produced by the media group I Am Second, the pediatric nurse said, “I definitely didn’t feel like we were qualified to have a child, especially me. As a matter of fact, when we found out [my wife was] pregnant, we both cried.”
Unfortunately, Ivey experienced life-threatening complications during the birth of the couple’s daughter Sophie. Thankfully, their little girl, who weighed only three pounds and 10 ounces at birth, survived.
Because physicians warned the couple that complications would arise again if they ever tried to have another child, Michael and Ivey decided not to have any more kids. Then, when their daughter was eight-years-old, she began having vivid dreams. Regarding these experiences, Michael said, “In her dreams, there were these three little boys who were her brothers, and the youngest was always in danger.” The dreams continued for two years. At this time, Michael really began to listen. The couple decided to start the adoption process. But, they quickly discovered they couldn’t afford the imposing $30,000 adoption fee. So, they began searching for different alternatives.
A family friend talked with the couple about the possibility of adopting through the foster care system. After meeting all of the foster care requirements and becoming certified, the couple received their first phone call. Three boys needed a home. Michael remarked, “We absolutely knew, because of our daughter’s dreams, that these were our sons, these were our children.”
Concerning their adopted sons, Michael said, “No other foster home was able to care for them because they were just too wild. There was this moment after we brought the boys into our home, where one of the boys began, his eyes began to roll back into his head, and he was laughing this weird laugh.” The “America’s Got Talent” contestant added, “My daughter looked up at my wife: ‘Mom I think that is a demon, I think one of these boys has a demon.’”
At this point, Michael laid on top of his son and stated, “You have no right to this child any longer, he is under my roof, and my name…I just understood in that moment exactly what the Father had done for us. He covers us and covers us with His name, and it drives out all the darkness.”
After receiving another call from the foster care system, the loving couple welcomed another boy into their home, one that suffered from cerebral palsy. The decision to adopt a fourth son wasn’t always an easy one for the family. The couple had to take their new son to therapy sessions and appointments at doctors’ offices. They also endured numerous visits to the hospital. At one point, Michael didn’t feel he had the strength to go through everything. Recalling this dark time, he said, “I got in the car [and said], ‘God if you really need me to keep this child, this really is my son, then I need a sign.’”
He went on to add, “And I look up and they had just put up this big giant billboard, and on this billboard was this man who had pushed his son with cerebral palsy through marathons, and it said like ‘father been behind son through like fifty marathons,’ and it was this big giant billboard on the road, on my commute that I normally would take every day.”
The “America’s Got Talent” contestant revealed, “I remember looking up at that, and [saying], ‘God you actually gave me a literally sign — a billboard.’”
The couple later added a fifth son to their family through adoption. Michael believes his kids have opened his eyes to spiritual truths. Referring to the God he serves, the “America’s Got Talent” contestant said, “He’s not afraid to get down in the dirt with us. As a matter of fact He sent his Son to be just like us, to experience all of our same issues and see us healed and set free.”
~ 1776 Christian
