DEARING, Ga. (WJBF) – Meet the Washington family. Zach, Brittney and 5-year-old Britlyn-Eve. While the family appears to be complete, they say they want another child and they’ve had this desire since the beginning.
“She hit a home run or something and I said I gotta marry that girl,” Zach Washington told us.
Already a baseball player himself, Zach fell in love with Brittney, who loved softball. The couple dated three years, married and three years later gave birth to Britlyn-Eve. And as they promised themselves, they tried for a second child.
“The child never had a heartbeat,” said Zach.
Not letting a miscarriage stop them, they tried again. But this time it was 2020 and a global pandemic. Brittney got COVID at 30 weeks pregnant.
“There was just one night when we put the doppler on her stomach and we just couldn’t find a heartbeat,” Zach said of the second pregnancy despite doctors saying she was OK while ill.
Through the pain of a second miscarriage, they thought positive.
“We are very thankful that we were allowed to see her,” Brittney told us.
And the couple also worked to pay it forward. In death, that baby now lives through Ellie-Mae’s Mission. Zach, a Special Education teacher at Harlem Middle School and pastor at New Hope Baptist Church in Thomson and his wife who owns Psalm 27 Hair Salon in McDuffie County, minister to expecting mothers and share with them about the hope of adoption. They also help mothers who are struggling.
“Mothers that are struggling, are battling anything. We go to the Women’s Preferred Health Center and we have goodie bags for them,” Brittney said adding that mothers receive bags full of personal items, a Bible and a brochure about Ellie-Mae’s Mission, which details the family’s story.
While they share the good news of Jesus Christ, they hope through private adoption they are blessed with the son or daughter Britlyn-Eve can read to one day.
“We’re open to any race, any gender. If the mother wants to have a relationship with us, we would honestly love that,” Brittney said.
The Washington family recently helped a mother with rent and baby needs. And they say if there are others, they are available.
To learn more about the family contact them on the Facebook page, Ellie-Mae’s Mission.
