Grace College professor Dr. Rachael Hoffert’s passion for teaching is evident upon entering her classroom.
What might not be so evident is the trials she and her family have gone through, and the strength needed to overcome them.
Rachael lived in Grand Rapids, Mich., until she attended Anderson University, where she met her now-husband, David. The two ended up both teaching in the Warsaw area after college. Her dedication to teaching was much of what drove her.
“What I'm most passionate about is just being a calm presence in the classroom, teaching kids how to read and write. That's one of my biggest passions, but also just impacting their lives,” she said.
Five years later, they had their first child. Then the idea of adopting grew on them.
“I had always thought it would be just a neat thing to adopt. I didn't know a whole lot about it and it was just something that kind of was on my heart,” she said.
After going to a presentation in Grand Rapids, Rachael and David decided to apply to adopt a child from Ethiopia.
“Within about six or seven months, we were sent a picture of an almost 2-year-old, and we were asked to accept, and of course, we did. And then within another five months, we were traveling to go and pick up our son Robinson,” she recalled.
“It was an amazing experience,” Rachael explained, “but it was very challenging. He was very, very hungry. He was very, very sick. And, so, we had him in and out of the hospitals, but we bonded with him and just fell in love with him.”
Since then, Robinson has been thriving. “He is a senior at Warsaw High School. And, just to watch him overcome so many challenges in life and to see where he is now… we're just so proud.”
Soon after, they felt the pull of adoption, and they adopted again from Ethiopia.
“We were sent another referral of a young, very young baby,” Rachael stated. This child was in a similar situation to their first, and the Hoffert couple had to make two trips to pick up their second son. “We did that and brought home Roosevelt, and he now is a seventh-grader.”
Rachael, who has been teaching at Grace College for 12 years, overcame some obstacles of her own.
“About two years ago now, it was about Labor Day weekend and we were at the high school football game. My son Robinson was a sophomore at the time and there was a rumor that he might get a little bit of varsity playing time, so we all [were] there. We were all up in the stands and I got a call that definitely changed my life. And it was a call saying, ‘Rachael, we need to talk with you for a few minutes,’” she said.
Rachael and David went to a small outbuilding behind the stands to take the call. “The doctor shared with me at that time that I had breast cancer. And hearing the word cancer, I just remember thinking, what are we going to do?” Rachael took a moment to emphasize the importance of preventative care. “I will advocate for that - for women to make sure you're getting your mammograms, you're checking, you're doing those self-checks. But I really thought, ‘I'm young, you know, it's no big deal,’ until I got that call.”
Her treatment journey began soon. “I was recommended to go to Goshen Health, to the Cancer Center. But they recommended a major surgery and a lot of recovery time, and I remember a week before I had to go into that first major surgery, I was back out at the football game and we hadn't told a lot of people in the community.” That night was Warsaw High School’s Pink-Out night in honor of breast cancer awareness. “I remember thinking how I can do this… I'm going to be strong and I'm going to get through what I need to do. And so that following Monday, I went into surgery, and from there I had another surgery and I am now a survivor of breast cancer, but it really rocked our world. And I look at my family, they were superheroes the whole way through. My kids were so encouraging. My husband was with me at every appointment. But it really gave me kind of a new perspective again on life and that perspective is just that life is fragile, and to cherish just the very little moments in life.”
Rachael’s difficulties granted her a new perspective and also strengthened her faith. “There's going to be hurdles in life. And I was able to survive, you know, be a cancer survivor, but whatever would have happened, good or bad, I had to rest and know that God is sovereign.”