Oldtown
- Caitlin Lewis
- Jul 10
- 4 min read
Local news covering the Oldtown area
Oldtown Couple Welcomes Twins to Their Growing Family
On December 8, two of Laurel’s youngest residents made their Oldtown debut. Born in Florida just a few weeks earlier, John and Josephina Norton came home to Laurel with their adoptive parents, Jonah and Jessie.
This wasn’t the first time the Nortons adopted. Oldtown residents since 2008, the couple adopted their first child, Hannah, in 2012 and their second child, Daniel, in 2015; both were born in South Korea and were toddlers by the time the Nortons brought them home. After Daniel’s adoption, changes in international laws made the overseas adoption process much longer. So, the Nortons next pursued domestic adoption, particularly seeking approval to adopt a child with special needs or from a crisis pregnancy situation. Even with the approval, the Nortons waited and waited while no child was matched with them. In 2019, a call finally came with news of a match: a newborn boy here in Maryland. A week later, they adopted Gabriel, their first newborn. All of these first three adoptions were classified as closed, meaning the Nortons never met the birth mothers.
In 2022, their adoption agency contacted the Nortons about a set of twins. While John and Jessie did not adopt those particular twins, the experience motivated them to pursue twin adoption. Hannah, Daniel, and Gabe began praying specifically for the family to be blessed with twins. For a long time, nothing happened. Eventually, the Nortons hired an adoption consultant to increase their chances of finding a match. Finally, in the fall of 2024, a pregnant mother in Florida chose the Nortons as adoptive parents for her twins, due at Thanksgiving. She specifically wanted a Catholic family to ensure a large support system to help care for her twins.
The next several weeks were nerve-wracking for John and Jessie. They spoke with the birth mother once, but her circumstances prevented her from maintaining consistent contact. Hurricane Helene and then Hurricane Milton savaged Tampa, and the adoption agency lost power for two weeks. After weeks of hearing nothing, the Nortons received a call on November 18 that the twins had been born that morning via emergency C-section. In the space of an hour, John and Jessie packed their car and began a long, overnight drive to Florida. Stopping just a few hours to sleep, they arrived the next morning, eager to meet the twins. However, the birth mother was having a particularly rough day and could not have visitors. Told to expect to meet the twins the next morning, the Nortons instead received word that the birth mother had discharged herself without signing the adoption papers. Fortunately, she came to the adoption agency at noon, and the 4-hour process of signing the papers began. The birth mother wanted to meet the babies after the paperwork was done, so the Nortons sat in their car outside the hospital until the birth mother was ready for them to come into the NICU.
Finally, at 6:30 pm, John and Jessie met the twins. The birth mother handed little Jonah to Jessie, and as she watched Jessie holding him, she said, “This is right.”
Jonah and Josephina stayed in the NICU for about a week, while John and Jessie resided at the Ronald McDonald house next door; they spent their days holding the twins. After the babies were discharged, they all stayed with a Florida relative while the adoption paperwork was processed. Twenty days after arriving in Tampa, John and Jessie returned to Laurel with the newborn twins.
Asked what motivated them to adopt, Jessie said, “We wanted a large family—to bring life into the world however God lets us...we wanted to be available for a mom in need.” She hopes that as the older children see their parents interact with and honor the twins’ birth mother, they will know how much their adoptive parents also honor their own birth mothers.
Oldtown residents who catch a glimpse of John or Jessie out walking with their children will agree that if anything is quickly apparent about the Nortons, it’s their love for the five children who now call them Mom and Dad.
Upcoming Oldtown Events
Mandatory Recycling. A 2023 ordinance mandating organic composting in the City of Laurel went into effect July 1. While compliance will be enforced, penalty fines will not start until December 1, 2025. However, the City might ease up on mandatory composting enforcement for certain residents, thanks to a proposal by City Councilmembers James Kole and Adrian Simmons. At the council’s 2 July work session, the two proposed that fines not be issued before 1 December 2026 for residents of six condominium communities where organics collection is not yet available. Additionally, they proposed that compliance inspections be limited to street-side observation and that multiple warnings be issued prior to fines being imposed. Their proposals would require changes to the existing city ordinance and will be discussed further at the next public hearing on 14 July.
Upcoming Play. Laurel Mill Playhouse presents Newsies, Jr. and the Kids Cabaret on the weekends of August 1–3, 8–10, and 15–17.
New Business. On May 24th, Crepes on Main held its grand opening. The restaurant is located at 349 Main Street. Hours are 8 am–4 pm, Sunday through Thursday, and 8 am–9 pm on Fridays and Saturdays.
Farmer’s Market. The Laurel Farmer’s Market is open for the season! Located at the Quill Lot (378 Main Street), hours are 3–7 pm every Thursday until October 16th. For more information, go to www.cityoflaurel.org/1617/Laurel-Farmers-Market.
Caitlin Lewis holds a Master’s Degree in Education from Covenant College. She worked as a high school English teacher both in the U.S. and Greece, but currently works at home raising her four children and writing her column.
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