My husband Ryan and I first talked about adoption on our first date over cheap Chinese food. For us the seeds were planted in our hearts early — we both saw the desperate need through overseas missions and knew it was something we eventually wanted to do.
We both wanted a big family. I had dreams of tiny toddlers running around the backyard and a full dinner table every night. Biological, adoptive … I didn’t really care how we got there I just knew it was a desire of my heart. It wasn’t until a miscarriage that we knew we were ready to start a family and the adoption snowball started rolling.
We decided we would try again for a healthy pregnancy and then eventually adopt someday in the future for our last child. But as month after month passed with miscarriage complications and
negative tests we kept feeling adoption pulling at our heartstrings.
The Lord works in funny ways … it started with small glimpses of what he was calling us to do: an adopted neighbor moving in next door, a spoken verse at church, even a movie plot on TV. I tried to push the signs away and focus on my own plan (never a good idea) but day after day the feelings grew stronger and I finally mentioned it to Ryan. He was, of course, feeling the same way, and we decided to “just look into” the adoption route to weigh our options.
I began my research Googling everything I could about adoption, following social media accounts and scheduling coffee with any adoptive mom I knew. There was one coffee date in particular that sticks out to me and as we sat across from each other she poured her heart out to me over our lattes and I felt clear words placed on my own heart: birth mother. That evening we scheduled a call with a team who would eventually become our adoption consultants and afterward felt absolutely certain that domestic private adoption was what we were called to do. Not only did we want to open our hearts to a new baby but also to show a birth mother unconditional love throughout their life.
Long story short, we met our baby boy Henry just four months later and felt a love like we had never known. Not only for him, but for his birth mother who sacrificed so much to give him the best life she could. In the middle of the adoption process we found out we were pregnant (surprise!) so we gave birth to a beautiful baby girl just 4 months after meeting Henry.
Fast forward a year. I was wrangling my two little 1 year olds when I got the call: Henry’s birth mother was pregnant again and she wanted us to adopt. And as if life wasn’t crazy enough, we said yes to
three babies under 2 years old. They are my three greatest miracles that I close my eyes and thank God for every single day.
