Our Adoption Story

So how did we get from not knowing what was going to happen with us next- to the point of being approved and licensed to adopt? Interesting you should wonder such a thing….

We did our IVF cycle in the fall of 2006. If you haven’t read about it yet, click here. After that failed, we were really numb. We were devastated. It was a process that we HAD to go through. Thankfully we had family and friends who supported us, prayed for us, and helped us through. We still don’t fully understand all the whys. This side of heaven- we probably will never know. But I do know that through out the whole thing, God didn’t leave us- EVER! We crawled out of our depression- but decided that maybe this was God’s way of doing something even bigger in our lives. We wanted to bring glory to Him through this whole process of hurt and confusion that we felt. We wanted Him to be blessed because of how we were living our lives, and facing this situation. We thought- maybe since the medical stuff didn’t work- that He’d do it on His own- and we’d be able to say look… we went through the IVF cycle, and it didn’t work, but several months later- we would get pregnant on our own, giving Him all the credit. I guess you could say we started believing with all of our hearts that THIS was how God was going to work.

We had received the adoption application in Spring 2007- but it didn’t feel right then. We weren’t ready to “give up on God” yet. At the time, it felt as if that would be what we were doing. After looking over the paperwork, we decided that this wasn’t the right path. We didn’t want to jump through all the hoops that the agency required. So we stuffed the whole envelope in a drawer and “forgot” about it. We kept on living life- trusting and believing that God was at work. Every month was frustrating. We knew that the fertility doctor said that it was Possible that we’d get pregnant on our own, but not Probable.

Around August, or September- we realized that maybe we were being unrealistic. Maybe we were expecting something that wasn’t part of God’s plan for us. We realized that we had stuffed God into a little box, confining Him to the BIG miracle that we had decided we should have. After a lot of soul searching and quiet time, and discussion with each other- we decided that maybe this was not how God was going to bless us. Maybe He had other plans in store. I know that it was a God thing, and that he was definitely at work in our hearts. We dug out the envelope with the application for adoption in, and began filling out the paperwork. It still didn’t feel like the right time to send it in, but we filled most of it out. It felt more like something we were maybe supposed to do. Neither of us were totally sure we were ready for another rollercoaster ride. So we left the papers on the desk and prayed about it a lot. Then one day in November, we got letter from two special people letting us know that they cared for and loved us. In that letter was a check for our “baby fund”! We felt that this wasn’t a coincidence, but the prompting of the Lord to finally send in the application. The check ended up covered over half of the initial application fee! We sent it in December 21st and both decided if we were going to go this route- then we were going to give it everything we had, and do it with all of our hearts. Thus begins our new roller coaster!

We had our acceptance letter the following week- exactly a week after we had sent in our application. This time, with the acceptance letter, they sent a second application, and requested more money. We got to work that night filling out the application. We enclosed the check and ran it to the post office. We realized that if we got this application in at the end of the year- by the December 31st deadline, we’d end up saving ourselves some large payments later down the road- as the agency’s fee schedule was being adjusted and increased for the New Year. We prayed about the envelope and waited to hear back from them. By January 2nd, we had the BIG packet of papers for our home study. This was everything from Back ground checks, to finger printing, to an evacuation plan for fire, flood and tornado (yes, if you come see us, it’s on our refrigerator- agency rules), personal and professional references, fire inspection (from the Fire Department) medical physical exams, tax returns, dog vaccination report history, etc. The list went on and on. Amazingly, we had all of that paperwork, and our Picture Profile book completed in TWO weeks!!! Yeah- I told you we were not messing around! We also had our home inspection with a licensed social worker completed by the end of January. By the middle of February, we had completed the required two weekend training classes (24 total hours) that we needed.

Now we are just waiting (again) on God to bring us our baby. We’ll keep you posted! Thanks for your prayers as we continue along on this process.