National Adoption Month
November is National Adoption Month. This month I want to feature some other families who have adopted. This first article is written by a sweet friend of mine who recently celebrated the adoption of their youngest son. I hope you will read her story and rejoice in God's working in and through his people to bring a child home.
My husband and I were married five years before I gave birth to our first child in June of 1999. We were given the gift of a sweet 9 lbs. 1 oz. baby boy. Then, four years later, in June of 2003 we were given another gift, a precious baby girl weighing in at a mere 6 lbs. 3 oz. (quite the difference in weight I might say).
Almost immediately after our daughter was born, I had the longing to have additional children. I brought the idea up to my husband. Due to some complications in my pregnancy with my daughter, my husband thought it best that I did not become pregnant again. He was concerned about my health and the health of our potential unborn child. I was disappointed by his words. I walked away from that conversation with the idea that he did not want to have any more children.
The desire to have more children remained with me. For two years miscommunication between my husband and I continued. The subject of having additional children came up again and again. My husband thought it best that I not physically carry a baby. Then I asked, "What do you think of adopting?" To my surprise he said we could consider that option. I was amazed that so much time had passed and it had been just a simple misunderstanding between us in communication. I, of course, was thrilled that he was not against having more children.
We then began thinking about the idea of adoption. It was during this time that we had a family in our church that were foster parents. I did not know this family very well, but we would talk on occasion. In February of 2008 this family had a baby girl placed in their home. I happened to see her for the first time one night at church. I just fell in love with her. She reminded me so much of my own daughter when she was a baby ... curly blonde hair and big blue eyes ... she melted my heart.
We received information about being foster parents. Then in the fall of 2008 we began the process of attending classes to become licensed foster parents. We went through adoption classes as well. During this time the little girl in foster care from our church was returned to her biological family. I missed her very much.
We became licensed foster parents in December of 2008. We were looking to foster and hopefully adopt an infant baby girl. Twice in the month of December we received calls to ask if we would be interested in infant baby girls. I thought my home was not quite ready yet for me to take on a baby. I told my husband, "Not yet."
Then on January 14, 2009 I received a call regarding the need for a home for a 9 month old boy. I called my husband to talk with him about it. Again, I was just feeling "not ready." My husband convinced me that we just needed to do this. I agreed. We made the arrangements to have the baby boy to arrive at our home the next day. Everyone in the family was so excited to meet this little boy. We just fell in love with him. He had dark brown hair, dark brown eyes and olive colored skin ... adorable.
Right away, we were introduced to the biological mother, and we knew from the start that this little boy was not adoptable because the mother was working to regain custody of him. We went through two years and four months of fostering this sweet boy before it became reality that the birth mother was not going to be able to regain custody. We then went through the process of adopting this little boy. Never in a million years would I have thought that we would be going through this process with this particular boy. We always knew that his mother wanted him and was working to become his full time mom again. It was just hard to believe that we were actually going to be able to become his full time parents. As much as his birth mother loved him, she just was not able to do what was needed to regain custody of him.
We were thrilled when in August of 2011 he was able to become part of our forever family. We speak often to him about his becoming part of our family. We tell him his "life story" which includes a mother who carried him in her tummy and now a forever mommy and daddy. One day, after our talking about his adoption, he asked me, "Momma, why did you choose me?" My response, "Because I loved you from the moment I met you, and I will love you forever."
Looking back I can see how God was preparing us to have our son become part of our family. He was born the month after we met the sweet baby girl, which is why we even proceeded to enroll in the fostering classes. I don't know if we would have even had reason to pursue the classes and receive our license if we had not met her. In turn, we would not have been available to have our son placed in our home. Once my husband said to me, "If we had not taken that particular placement, where would our baby boy be today?" It is a very sobering question to ask. What would our lives be like today had God not used a baby girl to capture our interest in fostering? We would never have received a third gift of another child whom we have grown to love in our hearts forever.
A Child Brought Home
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| Image: David Castillo Dominici / FreeDigitalPhotos.net |
My husband and I were married five years before I gave birth to our first child in June of 1999. We were given the gift of a sweet 9 lbs. 1 oz. baby boy. Then, four years later, in June of 2003 we were given another gift, a precious baby girl weighing in at a mere 6 lbs. 3 oz. (quite the difference in weight I might say).
Almost immediately after our daughter was born, I had the longing to have additional children. I brought the idea up to my husband. Due to some complications in my pregnancy with my daughter, my husband thought it best that I did not become pregnant again. He was concerned about my health and the health of our potential unborn child. I was disappointed by his words. I walked away from that conversation with the idea that he did not want to have any more children.
The desire to have more children remained with me. For two years miscommunication between my husband and I continued. The subject of having additional children came up again and again. My husband thought it best that I not physically carry a baby. Then I asked, "What do you think of adopting?" To my surprise he said we could consider that option. I was amazed that so much time had passed and it had been just a simple misunderstanding between us in communication. I, of course, was thrilled that he was not against having more children.
We then began thinking about the idea of adoption. It was during this time that we had a family in our church that were foster parents. I did not know this family very well, but we would talk on occasion. In February of 2008 this family had a baby girl placed in their home. I happened to see her for the first time one night at church. I just fell in love with her. She reminded me so much of my own daughter when she was a baby ... curly blonde hair and big blue eyes ... she melted my heart.
We received information about being foster parents. Then in the fall of 2008 we began the process of attending classes to become licensed foster parents. We went through adoption classes as well. During this time the little girl in foster care from our church was returned to her biological family. I missed her very much.
We became licensed foster parents in December of 2008. We were looking to foster and hopefully adopt an infant baby girl. Twice in the month of December we received calls to ask if we would be interested in infant baby girls. I thought my home was not quite ready yet for me to take on a baby. I told my husband, "Not yet."
Then on January 14, 2009 I received a call regarding the need for a home for a 9 month old boy. I called my husband to talk with him about it. Again, I was just feeling "not ready." My husband convinced me that we just needed to do this. I agreed. We made the arrangements to have the baby boy to arrive at our home the next day. Everyone in the family was so excited to meet this little boy. We just fell in love with him. He had dark brown hair, dark brown eyes and olive colored skin ... adorable.
Right away, we were introduced to the biological mother, and we knew from the start that this little boy was not adoptable because the mother was working to regain custody of him. We went through two years and four months of fostering this sweet boy before it became reality that the birth mother was not going to be able to regain custody. We then went through the process of adopting this little boy. Never in a million years would I have thought that we would be going through this process with this particular boy. We always knew that his mother wanted him and was working to become his full time mom again. It was just hard to believe that we were actually going to be able to become his full time parents. As much as his birth mother loved him, she just was not able to do what was needed to regain custody of him.
We were thrilled when in August of 2011 he was able to become part of our forever family. We speak often to him about his becoming part of our family. We tell him his "life story" which includes a mother who carried him in her tummy and now a forever mommy and daddy. One day, after our talking about his adoption, he asked me, "Momma, why did you choose me?" My response, "Because I loved you from the moment I met you, and I will love you forever."
Looking back I can see how God was preparing us to have our son become part of our family. He was born the month after we met the sweet baby girl, which is why we even proceeded to enroll in the fostering classes. I don't know if we would have even had reason to pursue the classes and receive our license if we had not met her. In turn, we would not have been available to have our son placed in our home. Once my husband said to me, "If we had not taken that particular placement, where would our baby boy be today?" It is a very sobering question to ask. What would our lives be like today had God not used a baby girl to capture our interest in fostering? We would never have received a third gift of another child whom we have grown to love in our hearts forever.
This is very similar to my own story :) It brought tears to my eyes. It's all in God's glorious plan; we just need to keep our hearts open to his messages.
ReplyDeleteI found your blog via Adoption Magazine and have so enjoyed reading your adoption story as well as this one. Thank you for being so open!
ReplyDelete