As many of our family and friends already know, we will be adopting a baby girl this August! The Lord certainly works in miraculous and marvelous ways. A lot of people have asked about the details of this adoption, so I'll give the brief explanation here, but some details are sacred, and we'll keep some of those to ourselves.
A few months ago when we received the impression that we should no longer pursue the infertility procedures that we were considering, and that rather we should pursue adoption, we felt we needed to act with a sense of urgency. If there is one thing I've learned about family and adoption, it's that the Lord is in the very details of it all, so we got our feet moving. We made an appointment, and within that first week, we had cranked out a majority of the paperwork and had outlined our plan of attack for the rest (the amount of paperwork can easily take a little over 3 months). A week later, I was asked by our Bishop to serve as the Primary President in our ward (leader of the children's organization at our church). I had assumed that our sense of urgency to get the paperwork going was because once I started in my calling, I wouldn't have as much time to put into our profile. I was grateful for the prompting to get started, but still felt like there was more to it than just that.
A few weeks later, as we were completing some of the last bits of our home study, I got a call from my dear friend, Jen. She knew of our adoption plan and had called to inform me that her sweet cousin was expecting, and was considering placing through LDS Family Services (our same adoption agency). Jen asked if she could share our profile with her cousin. I explained that our home study was in the process of being approved, which meant our profile wasn't up on the website yet, but with the approval of our caseworker, I sent Jen a little packet with a letter and several pictures of our family for her to send along to her cousin.
Weeks later, I met Jen's cousin and later we met her boyfriend, and we began corresponding. John and I were constantly filled with a calm, peaceful assurance. We were so impressed with our new friends and their desire to explore every option and find the very best fit for their baby. And not to mention, we just enjoyed them and getting to know them. They are fantastic, wonderful people.
After several weeks of getting to know each other, we received a package in the mail from "M" letting us know she would like us to be the family for her baby girl. We were humbled, grateful, and very excited. Words really can't describe how the emotions that we went through, and some of those emotions are too private to share here. Suffice it to say, we are thrilled.
As you can imagine, our relationship is very open, casual and easy. As always, we are big believers in the many benefits of open adoption. You can read about some of my thoughts Here and Here.
I love adoption. I am truly grateful to be a part of such a miraculous process. No doubt, God had his hand in all of this. I continually stand in awe of amazing birth mothers everywhere who place the happiness of their child above that of their own. It is truly remarkable, and I am grateful to witness that type of sacrifice and love.
Thanks for all your support, prayers, and excitement. We are truly grateful!
Miracles happen.
