Our Adoption Story

Our adoption story is not yet complete but it is already a beautiful story of God's blessing and provision in our lives and I am so excited to share it today. Originally, I was planning on sharing our story when it was complete but Kelly of Kelly's Korner is hosting a "Show Us Your Life Friday- Adoption Stories" today and I just couldn't resist... so here is our ever unfolding story...

Evan and I have always wanted and planned to adopt someday. We first discussed it when we were just dating and we agreed then that we would definitely grow our family through both biological and adopted children... someday.

Our master plan was to get married, let Evan finish law school and pass the bar exam and then become a two income family for a while. Then we would try to have biological children and I would become a stay at home mom and after a few biological children, THEN we planned to adopt... but GOD had different plans...

As you may know, we have been married a little under two years, Evan is still in law school (graduates in May) and I am still the primary source of income for our family... clearly we are still in the first few phases of our plan...

But then one day last Spring, we met a baby boy that would change our lives forever (and at the time we had NO idea.) He was in foster care and some close family friends were his foster parents. When we first met him, we thought he was precious but he wasn't available for adoption and we weren't looking to adopt... so we just "oooh"ed and "ahhh"ed over him and went along our merry way.

Towards the end of the summer, Evan and I went out to eat at a restaurant that we go to often. We arrived to find that my parents and some of their friends were already eating at this restaurant... and the foster parents were one of the couples... and they had the baby with them. They were eating and we hadn't gotten our food yet so we held the baby for them... and sometime during the evening, we learned that the baby had gone through a particularly heartbreaking summer and that he had received an injury that had threatened his life.

So we prayed for the baby and thought of him often... but we still were not considering adoption... and though he was in foster care, he was still not available for adoption.

And then GOD started doing something in my heart... He started suggesting that maybe this baby boy was supposed to be our son... Ever heard the saying, "If not now, when? If not you, who?"

I was confused because this wasn't how our plan was supposed to work, I didn't feel like we were really in a place to become parents and I knew everyone would think we were crazy if we decided to adopt while Evan was still in law school... and without ever trying to have a biological child.... and then there was that other little detail about this baby NOT being available for adoption...

But the thought wouldn't go away. I was having trouble sleeping because this child was weighing so heavily on my heart... so I asked GOD to please ease my mind and allow me to sleep and think of other things again if this baby boy was not meant to be mine...

But the thoughts didn't go away.... and then something weird happened... I got a new phone for my birthday... it was a Blackberry and the first phone that I had ever had with internet access. Evan set it up for me to have a facebook app and for all of my facebook notifications to show up on the home screen of my phone. The very first notification that I received on my new phone was a comment on a picture of me and this baby boy that simply said, "How Precious!"

Now let's back up for a moment... the day that we met the baby back in the spring, Evan and I took him on a walk around our neighborhood and we each took a picture with him because he was precious... and then I put those pictures on facebook (sometime WAY before September) because I didn't know that I wasn't supposed to put pictures of foster children on social networking sites... anyway, no one had commented on this picture for the entire summer so of course it was a major tug at my heart when I am in the middle with wrestling with GOD about adopting this little boy (who isn't available for adoption) and a picture of me holding him pops up on my new phone...

So, I decided it was time to talk to Evan. I told Evan what I had been going through, how I hadn't been sleeping and how I had been wrestling with this for weeks and of course I told him about the picture.... but I also told him not to freak out too much because it's hard to adopt a child that isn't available for adoption! haha

But Evan didn't freak out at all... he said we should start praying about it together... so we did. We prayed that GOD would provide clarity for us... and boy did He...

My birthday was on a Tuesday (in the month of September)... the weekend after my birthday, we spent a lot of time talking and praying about the possibility of adopting this little boy and what GOD had in store for us. In fact, on Sunday (we usually take a nap after church) we skipped the nap and prayed hard for clarity all afternoon until it was time to go to community group (small group Bible study through our church). After community group, we went to my parents' house to pick up our dog who had been playing with their dog for the evening because they had been at their community group too. As we were walking out the door, my mom (who I had NEVER mentioned any of this to) says, "Hey, guess what! "Baby" became available for adoption this week!" At that moment, I knew that GOD had answered our prayer for clarity in a "Clarity for Dummies" kind of way! (and what we didn't know at the time but we have learned since, was that the day he became available for adoption was... my birthday.) I basically ran out of their house and as soon as I got in the car, I began to bawl. Evan and I were overwhelmed with emotion... we were shocked, nervous, excited and who knows what else...

From that moment, we decided to wholeheartedly pursue this baby boy and that if GOD wanted us to be his parents, the doors would fly open and if for some reason He didn't want us to be this little boy's parents that the doors would slam shut. From that day to this, we have seen nothing but open doors. It hasn't been an easy process, adoption is a LOT of work and it is emotionally exhausting because it is full of uncertainty. But we know that GOD has called us here and we couldn't be more thankful and excited.

At this point, we have completed all classes, paperwork and both of our home studies and we are just waiting on the final approval and then we will begin working with a DHS adoption specialist to see if we are a match for the precious little boy that we pray will be our son someday soon.

We are so thankful to GOD for calling us to adoption because it is an amazing experience... one that has already changed our lives forever... no matter what happens in the next few months. One of my favorite parts of the whole experience has been seeing (through our own story and the many other stories that we have heard) how much GOD cares about each one of his creations, no matter how small or insignificant to the world. GOD has a plan for each little life, and nothing is able to stop GOD from carrying out his plans... not our age, or inexperience, or fear, or what other people think of us... GOD is bigger than anything that is holding us back from adoption.

I love how big my GOD is and I love that He holds the child that we love in His hands...

To Be Continued :)