Thinking About Adoption

Mrs. Joseph Wood and Baby Daniel

In the winter of 2010, my husband and I decided we would look into adoption.   During that time, I mentioned this to my women’s Bible study group.  There was this girl named Janelle in the group that I did not know well but she knew of a little girl in need of a loving family.  And so we began the process of pursuing adoption of this 21 month old little girl.

The first person I talked to was Mrs. Joseph Wood – an on-line friend with 10 (now 11) children of her own.  Before I share Mrs. Joseph Wood with you – let me finish the above story…after 6 weeks of phone calls and talking to the woman who had custody of the little girl, planned meetings, pictures of the little girl, background searches, social workers, forms, and prayers – the opportunity for adopting this little girl fell through.  I was heartbroken as I had a bedroom and little girl clothes stacked in bins to the ceiling waiting for her.  The kids were so ready and excited for a new little sister to waltz through the front door and steal our hearts!   

BUT it fell through – our hearts were torn and disappointed…I cried for days.  BUT I was left with 2 new blossoming friendships.  One was Janelle, this girl texted me 5 times a day helping me through this very crazy process…I grew to love her heart and later she became a close friend, a part of my Good Morning Girls group and now you know her as “Comfy In The Kitchen“.  God knew what he was doing when he brought our hearts together through this little girl!

The other was Mrs. Joseph Wood – during the pursuit of this little girl – she took phone calls from me, gave me lawyers numbers to contact (which I did), she explained the process and was SO helpful.  And so I want to share her wisdom with you all in case you are in our shoes.

Mrs. Joseph Wood from A Moment With Mom writes:

Adoption- the word brings forth a well of emotions no matter what side of the story you are on. Birth parents, child, adoptive parents, friends and families involved, even strangers each have a unique roll and view adoption through such different lenses.

When my husband and I were first married we knew we wanted to adopt children as much as we knew that we wanted to spend the rest of our lives together. We had such confidence that God would bring us children through adoption and yet had no idea when. It was 12 years into our marriage before the Lord brought us our first blessing through adoption. While it may have been 4380 days since my husband and I had sat day dreaming about adoption, it was not a neglected topic. Our birth children knew that mommy and daddy had hearts open to children that did not come from our body physically. We talked about how God can put a family together. God is not limited and is often willing to cross nationalities, borders, and even oceans if needed to bring a family together.

We originally thought we would adopt internationally and had friends working in orphanages in Africa that could help us through the process. As we prepared to get our home study in order we began sharing our excitement with others. At that time, we owned a Christian bookstore, when a customer came in and through some conversation learned about our desire to adopt. She asked me the life changing question, “Why are you going oversees to adopt? Why not adopt children here in the U.S?”

I was so naive at the time I didn’t even realize that there were children in the U.S. that needed adoption. Through some more conversation we learned more about children in the Foster Care system. After prayer, we talked with my parents, our children and decided to proceed. It was a whirlwind of activity. God opened every door and within just a few weeks our son was brought to us through adoption. He was 13 months and suffered terribly from neglect and FAS. It took us approximately a year to finalize his adoption.

We were delighted with this sweet blessing and thought that we were done adopting, or at least for now, only to get a phone call from a social worker a few months later. She had heard about our family through the grapevine and informed us about a little boy being born who was going up for adoption.We were able to meet the birth mom and take our second son home to wait for the adoption process to finalize. Things happened and about 9 months later a birth grandmother stepped forward saying she would care for the little boy. We were devastated. The courts ordered that he be “returned” to his grandmother within two weeks. I did all I could to send him with his favorites, tell her about his likes and dislikes, even sent my rocking chair so he could still be rocked to sleep each night. It was one of the hardest moments in my life when I handed him over and walked away. I still remember the tears that were uncontrollable to the point that I could not drive.

As I sat for what seemed like hours crying, I felt like the Lord told me, “If you give him to me, I’ll give him back.” I didn’t know how but it was enough to get me home that day. It wasn’t long before the phone rang and it was the grandma asking if we would babysit. She worked during the week, had baby in daycare, and on weekends she was exhausted. She wanted to know if we could take care of him on the weekends. I was delighted and even offered to watch him in the week too. Maybe this is what the Lord’s plan was. I was happy to have any part at all in his life. We learned that he also had a half brother and sister that were older who were also cared for by the grandmother. Often they would all come to the house for the weekend and we would have good conversations, childlike fun and tried to offer them some precious childhood memories.

A few months later we received a phone call in the evening from a social worker that informed us the children were being removed from the grandma’s care and asked if we would be willing to adopt all three children. “Of course!” was our response. Life trials happened but over the course of the next few years our adoption was finally complete and we had four children that the Lord brought to us through adoption. I often remind the children that God doesn’t have plan B’s only plan A’s and this was His plan all along.

Somehow, in some way, that we cannot understand this is how He decided to build our family and bring us together. Joe and my heart remain open to as many children as the Lord would graciously give us. This last month, He decided to do just that and gave us a baby boy through private adoption.While we’ve never adopted internationally, or at least not yet, God has brought our family together in unique ways. From where I look, unique is beautiful!

I am honored to be the momma to these 11 blessings while some came from my heart, some came from my body physically, some come with special needs, and some come at older ages!! Each are unique… each child is beautiful and perfectly fit for our family.I couldn’t imagine a day without one of them! If you’ve considered adoption, I would suggest you keep it a matter of prayer. Trust the Lord to do what He’s promised even if it takes longer than you anticipated. Don’t be afraid of those that offer you comments of fear. When God brings you your children, no matter how old they are, where they come from, or how they come to you, you will recognize them and know they are the ones He has always planned for you to mother! If you would like to read about our latest addition you can do so by visiting our blog at: http://amomentwithmom.com/uncategorized/daniels-story/
Because of His Love,
Mrs. Joseph Wood

Jeanette (or Mrs. Joseph Wood ~ her on-line name) has written a series of ebooks titled “Made Simple“.  She makes everything look SO simple – bread making, barnyard chores, food storage, bee keeping, homeschooling and more.

Her Homeschooling Made Simple Ebook goes on sale TOAY for $6.99!   And all of the proceeds go towards their recent adoption of Daniel.  So if you are a homeschooler, I want to encourage you to reserve your copy today! I have my copy and am so blessed to have the wisdom of a mom who has walked in my shoes.  If you are in need of a Titus 2 Woman – you must follow Jeanette:

 

I am following Made Simple on Facebook 

Do you have an adoption story?  Please share it in the comment section. 

Walk with the King,

58 Comments

  1. While our adoption story is not as inspiring as the one shared above, we do have a testimony of God’s faithfulness through adoption that we share every opportunity we’re given. Our daughter came to us through the gift of adoption after 10 years of waiting, failed adoptions, failed embryo adoptions, and many, many prayers. I like what was shared above about God not having plan B’s, only Plan A’s. We know without any doubt that our daughter’s adoption into our family was His perfect plan for all of us.

    Our adoption testimony can be found on our personal blog at
    http://agiftworththewait.blogspot.com/2008/06/first-thing-i-want-you-to-understand-is.html

  2. Thank you so much for sharing this beautiful story of hope. We completed our homestudy in March of this year and are looking for a sibling group of 2-3 from the foster system as well. Lately we have begun to feel like it is never going to happen. We have 3 children (I birthed) and due to their ages (8, 6 & 3). We keep reminding ourselves that it will all happen in His perfect timing if it’s His will for our life. Thanks for reminding me that His plan and timing is BEST and far better than ours. <3

      1. Thank you soo much! I was just reading over your blog. I saw you are from KS and homeschool. I too am from KS and homeschool. I will keep you all in my prayers as well. Thanks again.

    1. Courtney,

      Thank you so much for sharing! I am so sorry for your heatache. May the Lord bless your family with more children in His time. Thank you for the ministry of your blog. You inspire!

      Jennifer,

      We were in a similar situation as your family. Two years ago we started the process of adoption through the foster care system, We too already had three biological children and wondered how that would affect our being chosen. The wait seemed so long. We were very discouraged, knowing how many children were in need of a good home, yet none were being sent our way. We planned to drop out of the program when our homestudy would expire the second time around, as that would have been two years of waiting. God had other plans! Just ten weeks ago we were blessed with two little boys. In hindsight, we can see how God placed these children with us at just the right time for our other three children. Also, we can so clearly see that these are our boys, meant for our family. May the Lord grant you patience as you wait, and joy in the gift of more children!

  3. I LOVED reading this!! Yes, we have adoption stories! Our two girls were given to us through the gift of adoption. We brought Elizabeth (now 5) home from China in 2007 and we brought Caroline (now 14 months) home from here in Georgia last June. We are hoping to start another adoption here in Georgia this November.

    For our China adoption we used Chinese Children Adoption International (CCAI) and for our domestic adoption we used Covenant Care Adoption Services in Macon, GA. Both are WONDERFUL agencies that we highly recommend!!

    Praying for y’all, Courtney!! Praying that the Lord would bless your home with more and more children for His glory!!

    His,
    Shari

  4. “When God brings you your children, no matter how old they are, where they come from, or how they come to you, you will recognize them and know they are the ones He has always planned for you to mother!” That’s exactly true!!! I “knew” my oldest was meant for me when he was only a few years old. Long convoluted story, but he came to live in our home when he was six. And we adopted him when he was grown…finalized when he was 21. My heart is full when I think of him…he’s been such a blessing to our lives. I’m so incredibly deeply grateful to the Lord for being given the privilege of mothering him.

  5. We have three children–two are adopted. They were my husband’s brother’s children and were foster children. They lived with us twice and the second time we were finally able to adopt them –after about 3 long, painful years of thinking they were going back into a bad situation. Everything does work out for good if we love the Lord! He knows what he’s doing better than I do!

    I have been blogging some about our adoption story @ http://www.workingonthesimplelife.blogspot.com

  6. Can’t even begin to tell you how much I love this post…
    We’ve adopted twice and God knows (I tell Him daily)…that if He’s willing to give me the strength…and puts it clearly on our hearts again….we want to walk with Him down this road again. I probably have missed posts on this topic in the past, but LOVED knowing you’re open to this Courtney.
    Our first adoption ended (until eternity) in heartache. But we still saw God’s hand clearly involved in our daughter’s life. We had several fall through as well (so painful, such deep heartache and loss of hopes anticipated) but then our little Lydia’s adoption–oh the joy and continued joy.
    But He was there in the midst of all of them.
    And we grew closer to Him through the pain as much as the joy.
    Totally changed how I view His adoption of us as His children.

    Loved this post!

  7. What stories people are sharing here. It really shows the loss and grief that winds in with joy in adoption. We’ve got two adopted through foster care, both with special needs and mental illness diagnosed after the adoption finalized when they were in preschool/early elementary. It was a wild ride in the foster care system with them. Really showed me what a booger I can be when it comes to faith and standing firm in His promises. But we’re thankful, despite the challenges we still face with our girls, and the issues our biological children have with their sisters’ special needs. These two are truly meant to be ours, and it’s amazing how God can do that with people from all over the place!

  8. adoption is a wonderful thing for a child. I wish the world in general knew this. I am so glad I was adopted . We had two girls later in life than most but we contstantly have a flow of children in need of stability coming through our home , must be all God sent because nearly every child who has come here has had deep needs, when their situations change for the good we don’t see them again . This must be a God thing as we have never gone looking for these children nor have we ever prevented them from coming.We have had 9 on and off this summer usually it is a changing sea of faces! I didn’t even realize what was happening for the first few years. God at work and we just keep the door open!

  9. What a beautiful and inspiring story Mrs Wood..God is truly glorified in your warm and loving heart for His children.

    Courtney, God’s plan for you is going to be fulfilled. I pray that you will have the patience and perseverance to wait on His timing.. which is always perfect. I truly believe that all doors will be opened to you for His will to be done in the fullness of His time. Waiting is hard.. don’t I know it! Disappointment and discouragement sets in, but Isaiah 40:31 tells us that “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up on wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary and they shall walk and not faint”. Some translations use the word ‘hope’ instead of ‘wait’. Every time a door closes for you, remember that it wasn’t the one God meant for you.. He has something even better.

    God bless you both and your families.. thank you for being such lights of inspiration.

  10. I have an AMAZING adoption story. The short version is this:

    We were waiting for a baby through an agency (domestic infant adoption) for about 9 months. In May, our small group asked if they could pray for a baby to come to us by the end of summer. In August (one year ago today), we got picked by a couple who’s baby was due at the end of August!

    When the baby was born, they changed their minds and decided to keep him. We were of course devestated.

    7 weeks later, things changed again, and Levi became our son!!

    We chose the name Levi because it means “joined or brought together.”

    I have blogged about the whole thing here: http://www.myhopefulfilled.com

    Or, you can watch the 3 minute video version here: http://www.vimeo.com/16755496

    God has been so good to our little family! And I am happy to say we are working on building a beautiful relationship with my son’s birth mother, too.

    1. I checked these comments just to be sure my pal, Michelle, had shared her awesome story! Having witnessed the day of “the call” and been there for those 7 weeks of “Why, God?” – this story is one of my absolute favorite stories of God’s blessing! And, Levi is darn ADORABLE!

  11. I am an adoptee. There are many issues surrounding adoption. There are issues such as loss, identity, and struggles to find a place in this world. While an adoptee may not vocalize these issues out loud, he/she probably thinks about them. I wanted to let you know there are wonderful books to help deal with these issues.

    First I would like to recommend books by Sherrie Eldridge. She is a christian and an adoptee who for many years has helped adoptive families with their unique issues. I highly recommend her books 20 Things Adoptive Parents Need To Succeed and Questions Adoptees Are Asking. She has a website and blog:
    http://www.sherrieeldridge.com
    http://sherrieeldridge.blogspot.com

    For those who are adult adoptees, I can recommend two books that help with the journey in the healing process. They are the Primal Wound by Nancy Verrier and Twice Born by Betty Jean Lifton. Nancy is an adoptive parent and Betty Jean is an adoptee.

    Lastly, if one is going to adopt, there are plenty of children right here in the US foster care system who are wating to be adopted. Charity begins at home.

  12. When my husband and I married in 2003 our plan was to have 2 biological children then adopt. In 2005 we started trying to have children, 2006 my husband (after 6 months of hospital stays and testing) was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease and in 2007 we received news we have 0% chance of conception. To say I was devastated is an understatement. I started counseling to deal with the depression of all that was going on and so I could communicate effectively with my husband. In the fall of 2007 we started a plan of researching adoption attending our first information meeting in October. Our intent was to adopt an infant domestically, but we couldn’t agree on ethnicity or gender. They reviewed their international adoption programs, which included Ukraine. My grandparents were Ukrainian and my mom and her brothers still speak the language. At that point we knew our children were in Ukraine.

    We started the adoption process in Jan 2008, were in Ukraine adopting our son (3 at the time) March 2009 and came home with him May 2009. What a Mother’s Day gift! He has cerebral palsy, but is otherwise healthy. I can tell you story upon story of how God made it absolutely clear that this boy was ours. (For example, we live in the Detroit area and we adopted Eli from Zaporozhye, the auto capital of Ukraine.) Our son is the sweetest boy you could imagine.

    After being home with us about a year he started asking for brothers and sisters (a big brother, big sister, little brother and little sister to be exact!), so we thought we’d better get on the ball! In June 2010 we started our second adoption, this time with a girl in mind. They say every pregnancy is different…well, every adoption is very different, too! This second adoption has been very difficult (we opted not to adopt the first child we saw, the orphanage didn’t want us to adopt our girl so they lied to us about a lot of things, and on and on), but we know it’s worth it. We were in Ukraine in June 2011 to adopt our girl and brought her home mid July 2011. Now we have a 5 and 6 year old!

    Because of us, there are two less orphans. But because of them, we’re a family. I love my kids!

  13. Yes…we adopted. We brought home our daughter from China at age 3. We also have 3 biological kiddos. I will be honest…adoption by far is THE hardest thing we have ever done. IT has stretched us emotionally and physically. There are still days 2 years later when it is really really hard. But that’s all about me isn’t it? That is what adoption has showed me. How pathetic, sinful and selfish I am as a human. It has also showed me how merciful God is…I understand His love much more than I ever did before! I don’t want to come across as negative regarding adoption..I’m not!! I started an adoption ministry and we have considered adopting again. I have our adoption story started on my personal blog http://www.1crazyjourney.com It’s not finished because I think it’s going to be an 11 parter:))

  14. i LOVE all this adoption talk… thanks everyone for sharing! God has stirred up our hearts for adoption in recent months and we are now in the home study process- on a journey to adopt a baby boy from Ethiopia. We were once spiritual orphans, yet God who is rich in mercy, love and compassion, rescued us and made us His children- what great LOVE! we look forward to adding to our family and making an orphan no longer an orphan but a son!

  15. Thank you for sharing your precious story! God has called my husband and I to adoption as well. We are in the waiting period right now and still praying God has an answer soon. Very glad to be a new follower!:)

  16. Adoption is something my husband and I have been praying about for awhile now. Something so dear to our hearts. Thank you for sharing these stories with us. What a blessing.

  17. Thank you so much for sharing. My husband and I have been waiting since January for a birthmother to choose us. While we do not have children yet, we pray everyday that the Lord would bless us. The waiting is difficult, but we know that He has the perfect child/children for us in His time!

  18. We just had our third child, a little baby girl, 11 weeks ago. When we got pregnant with her I figured that we wouldn’t be able to adopt (which has always been laid on my heart)… my husband only wants 3 children … I thought the dream of adoption was over for us once we got pregnant with our third. I have been wanting to bring it up to my husband lately that I would still like to adopt but am worried he’ll just laugh in my face!! Would you pray for us? I’m confident that if it’s God’s will for our family to adopt He will lay it on my husband’s heart as well. Will you just pray that he will be obedient to His calling no matter what that would be??! And pray that I’ll have the confidence to bring it up to him?! I would REEEALLY appreciate it!

  19. I LOVE adoption stories! Thank you so much for sharing this very inspiring story.

    My wonderful hubby and I knew we always wanted to adopt but thought it would be after we had our “own” children. God had other plans for us and it was very clear to us that adoption was how we were going to have a family. In 2004 we started down the road to domestic infant adoption. Life circumstances really got in the way of us moving forward as quickly as we wanted to but looking back now, I know it was God saying, “Wait…I have your child chosen for you!” In January 2006, a friend of a friend who had recently adopted put us in touch with a young birthmother. Two weeks after meeting her and her family, she chose us and one week later our beautiful daughter was born. This is an open adoption and K’s birthfamily is as much a part of our family as our “real” family is.

    Then I got very sick and we were unsure if our daughter’s prayers of a sibling would ever come true. This spring God really laid it on our hearts that now was the time. We had no idea where the money would come from or how this was going to happen. After being told by two agencies that they were not taking any more families, and never receiving a phone call back from another agency we were contacted locally about another young birthmother who wanted to make an adoption plan for her unborn child. She looked at our profile, chose us, we met her on a Thursday (along with her mom and the birthfather), fell in love with all of them and our second beautiful daughter was born on Saturday. We had 28 hours between knowing for sure we were the ones, to holding our precious angel.

    To those who are waiting….I say this….it is absolutely 100% all God’s plan. I know it is so hard right now, but lay it the cross my friends. Give it all to the Lord and trust in Him with every fiber of your being. It’s not easy some days and we often ask why, but just know, the instant you hold your gift from God in your arms, every tear filled minute, every heart wrenching disappointment led to that moment, and instantly you understand why. The moment I held both my girls, they were mine…I knew it was God’s plan for my hubby and I. They are “our” children!

    Our second is an open adoption too. And our baby is seven weeks old now and honestly I can’t wait to get to know this new part of our family better. God has blessed us beyond belief and the great part is, I don’t think we are done yet! Can’t wait to see what He has in store for us next!

    God bless all of you where ever you may be in your adoption story….

  20. Thank you for this post! We are in the middle of an adoption right now. We were planning on doing a domestic adoption, but after our first home study, God literally moved mountains in our hearts, and changed our plan. We just signed and will be mailing in the contracts in order for us to adopt from DR Congo. While I was excited about our domestic adoption, words cannot begin to describe my heart and feelings about our new path. I believe that this was the path that God had for us all along, but we didn’t have enough information, nor had our hearts been changed the way they have been now, in the beginning of our journey. I have absolutely NO doubt that our children are waiting for us in DRC. I cannot wait to meet them.

  21. Mine is a long story, but the short version is that we had a girl who lived with us for 9 months. We knew her dad, and he gave his consent. No one knew where her mom was, but we were going through the process to terminate her rights. When we finally located her, she wasn’t sure if she wanted to give her daughter up permanently, but wasn’t sure if she wanted her either. She ended up taking her. It was devastating to our family.
    The good thing is that she has allowed us to call and send letters, and we have been to visit her twice. (Can’t do now as we are in Africa, and she is in CO.) I know where she is and that she’s safe.
    We would still like to adopt in the future, but I’m nervous about pursuing it and having it not work out.

  22. I am a birth mom. I placed my son for adoption when I had him in my teen years. I was so blessed to be able to meet his adoptive parents beforehand and to keep in touch with them over the years. The adoptive mom emails me from time to time to let me know what my son is up to and what a blessing he is to them. And, of course, they are such a blessing to me. I am so glad to know that my son is being raised in a good Christian home with parents that could provide for him when I couldn’t. Now that I’m much older and married, I would love to adopt, but my husband is totally closed to the idea. Which makes me appreciate even more, the people that are willing to open up their hearts and homes to children that are not biologically theirs, but that they love as if they are.

  23. I also enjoy reading adoption stories. We have a beautiful son from Ethiopia and are asking God if there may be another to add to our three children. Adoption grabs your heart and pulls you in, I think. It is awesome to see how God places families together.

    Blessings
    Amy @ Missional Mama

  24. No adoption story yet. But we are foster parents who hope to one day adopt. Like Courtney, we have 2 biological children (and hopes for more) but the years are going on while no more babies are coming. We are fairly new foster parents but have welcomed 4 different children into our home this past year at different times. It’s been a stretching, faith-building experience that we know God was in charge of all along. We are trusting Him to one day bring more children into our home for us to love. His compassion shining through human hearts is such a beautiful thing.
    Blessings!
    Shannon in Indiana <

  25. I love reading all these adoption stories! My parents adopted, and I’ve had several close friends adopt children as well. Some were international and some were from the domestic foster care system. When I was still working full-time, I had a job dealing with all manner of family and mental health issues, including adoption. Sometime the process could be so heartbreaking, but sometimes I could really see God moving in the lives of these children and families in such beautiful ways. I loved seeing the new families adoption knit together, and this is something my husband and I are praying about pursuing as well.

    Amy
    makingajoyfulhome.blogspot.com

  26. Oh my word, I could write a series of books on the topic. 😉 All four of our children are adopted. We were foster parents for 5 years in OH and I have blogged MANY times about our experiences and/or the topic of adoption which will forever be near and dear to my heart. Courtney, I had no idea. I’m so sorry for your adoption loss. It HURTS. I’ve been there. I cared for “my” Sarah, 24/7 for 6 weeks, taking her home from the hospital as a 2 day old, being the first one to calm her, comfort her, rock her, sing to her, talk to her about Jesus, sleep with her, wake with her, change her, be there for her in every way. Only to say a most painful goodbye when “the plan” changed (and it involved politics, not a birthmother changing her mind, which made the struggle even greater for me at the time.) A bit of my thoughts on adoption can be found here (along with the most beautiful song EVER!).
    http://inthemidstofthisseason.blogspot.com/2007/07/i-would-die-for-that_12.html
    Blessings,
    Toni

  27. P.S. I should add that the comments I received on that post might be of interest to some as well, as my heart was challenged by a reader who didn’t quite understand my perspective.
    Blessings,
    Toni

  28. Thank you so much for sharing this post. As an adult adoptee and now adoptive parent, adoption is obviously near and dear to the heart of my family. I always enjoy reading others’ adoption stories. Adoption is such a reflection of the heart of God and a parallel of His adoption of us into His Family and Eternity.

  29. We started our adoption story a couple years ago and are still working on it. In Jan of 2009 my husband went on a mission trip to Haiti. He had tried to do this for several years but it kept falling through. But God put us in a new place and worked out all the details so off he finally got to go. We were not looking to adopt just spread God’s love and be of use, but God had other plans. Our daughter was there waiting and she knew when she saw my husband , that was her daddy. My husband knew when he saw her face, that was his daughter. The bond was instant and they spent the 10 days he was there in each others arms when ever it was possible.

    While hubby was gone my quiet time, my devotions, email with scripture, lessons…they all said the same thing ” being adopted into God’s family”. It was clear He had a message for me and I just said okay I am listening!

    When my husband came home he wasn’t sure how to tell me God was telling him that we had a daughter in Haiti and she needed to come home. We had recently had baby # 5, and almost lost him at 2 weeks old. There were still many struggles to keep him healthy and growing. We lived in a tiny 3 bedroom house on a small pay. He didn’t know God had already been whispering in my ear the whole time he was gone. His first day back he was showing me pictures and when it got to a picture of our daughter my heart stopped and I all I could say was “wow there is something about that little girl” and all Hubby could say was “yeah, she stole my heart”. No other words were exchanged about her. The next day Hubby was playing videos from the trip and I was in the other room making dinner. All the sudden my ears were filled with a little voice singing a song and I ran into the room crying and said “that is her! that is that little girl!!!” I had heard my child’s voice and knew it. That little voice had been snuggled deep in my heart waiting to be known. My husband smiled and asked me to read the journal he had keep during his trip and the next day we started making phone calls to find out how to bring Naphtali home.

    We didn’t know anyone who had adopted and in all our research and talking we were given wrong information and our first year of trying to adopt her left us right back where we had been a year before. Jan on 2010 my husband went back down on a work team to the orphanage and was there during the earth quake. God is so good. All on the team and all 80 children were safe and he was there to hold our daughter as she watched her world around her crumble and the devastation and loss of life in the community right outside their orphanage walls.
    Through God’s amazing hand, Hubby and friend of ours were able to bring 7 children home with them, who were in the final stages of adoption, to their new families. What a joy to see and be apart of but so heart breaking to have to leave our daughter behind in such uncertain times. Adoptions stopped because of the earth quake and we tried to bring her home through the Humanitarian Parole program but the US government wanted a piece of paperwork from before the earth quake that stated the exact phrase ” for the purpose of adoption” while ours said ” to be adopted in the future”. And because of that and that alone we were denied.

    When Adoption opened up again we began again to try and bring our daughter home. We now had the help of those families and they shared their knowledge and struggles and helped guide us. Then we got word that the orphanage was going to team up with an adoption agency here in the states to lighten the load on the director of the orphanage. She is an amazing Godly woman and in much need of help but with this move we were once again brought back to square one in trying to bring our daughter home.

    We were filled with questions of why but trusted God with all our hearts and knew we were to just keep moving forward and relying in Him and someday she would be home safe in our arms. In fact just know my husband called me to say our dossier is on its way to be legalized with in 1 to 2 weeks will finally be arriving in Haiti after 2 and 1/2 yrs of trying!!!!!! God has shown us so many wonderful things on this journey and we know His time is PERFECT! We are hoping that this fall I can go to meet our daughter for the first time. Meanwhile, we just kept trusting, praying for His guidance and wisdom, work on raising the funds needed, helping the orphanage and community surrounding it in anyway we can and waiting on the Lord to bring Nephtali home into our arms.

  30. Our son came home on December 28th, 2010 through domestic adoption. We had known his Birthmother since July of 2010 and she is wonderful!!! I went to all her prenatal appts. with her and was her birthcoach during labor. She even so graciously let me cut the cord while bringing our son into this world. She is amazing and has given us the greatest blessing! I couldn’t imagine our lives without Noah and thank the Lord everyday for him. It was a stressful and sometimes disheartening process but I would go through it a million times again just to have Noah in our lives. Thank you so much for sharing this adoption story and I hope someday we can also adopt from foster care.
    God is soooo good! 🙂

  31. We have 2 kids that we adopted domestically and 2 teenagers that we have legal guardianship of. Our son’s adoption story started in Feb 2004 when we first learned about the facilitator we adopted him through. Just two weeks after contacting the facilitator we attended their intro seminar (which is only held once a year!) And our son was born and placed with us in July 2004.

    Our daughter’s adoption started in August 2006 when we signed up with the same facilitator again. After waiting about 6 months we were chosen and went to meet the expectant mom. A few weeks later, she changed her mind and decided to parent with the help of a family member. We continued to wait, but after having to turn down a few out of state situations because we did not have a homestudy yet, so we completed our homestudy in December 2008. In July 2009, we heard online about a situation with an agency and submitted our profile for it. The agency received it in the mail on Monday and called Tuesday to tell us that we were not chosen for that situation, but wanted to know if they could hold unto our profile just in case. We told them sure. Just 4 days later they called us about our daughter’s situation, on the day she was born. We hopped on a plane that night and flew across the country to meet our new little girl.

    Our teenagers came to us when their dad went to jail last year at Thanksgiving. Their mom didn’t want them so we took them and got legal guardianship. We had known them through the church for several years. I do not know if we will ever go through the process of adopting them, but we are already mom and dad to one of them, and the other one is coming around a little, but has mental health problems preventing him from attaching well to us.

    Oh and we are also a homeschool family!

  32. My husband and I had 2 biological children and when we decided we wanted a 3 my husband said he wanted to adopt. My mother was adopted so I fell in love with the idea. We started looking into international adoption and I knew that was not God’s plan for us and private adoption didn’t seem financially possible at the time. In October of 2009 I was ready to start trying to conceive and God gave me a heavy heart. I didn’t understand what I was feeling and my husband still wanted to adopt so I prayed and new immediately that was what he was calling us to do. We sold our house a few weeks later so we decided to wait until the new year to do our home study and start pursuing a domestic adoption. In March of 2010 we finished our home study and I sent 1profile book to the social worker that worked for the law firm. I followed up 2weeks later and was told about a birthmother who was looking for a very open adoption because she had a 7 year old daughter who was excited to have a baby sister. I new the minute I looked at her profile page this was what God’s plan was. I told the social worker to give her our book. After telling my husband however I found out that work was slow and we wouldn’t have the money in time. I called her back to tell her not to send our book but it was too late. She told me not to worry that she was looking at lots of families and chances were slim anyway. After 2weeks I assumed she chose another family but I called to see anyway. The socia worker was vain and said she didn’t know yet. The next week she called to say she chose us. It turns out they had tried really hard to get her to choose someone else because I had said we didn’t have the funds but she only wanted us. god provided the way he always does and the money came that same week. I spent the next 3 months getting very close to our daughters birthmother and daughter. We were able to spent time together growing a bond that will never be broken. We still talk, mostly by text and e-mail, and as complicated as it should be, it’s nothing but perfect! I saw the Lord as clearly as I could see a human during those few months. Everything happened perfectly and I could see his hand pushing aside all obstacles that came our way. He just kept telling me to LOVE and everything will be perfect. Madeline will be 1 next week. Funny thing was she was conceived October 2009!

  33. My 16 mth old son, Monroe, is adopted as well. We adopted him in 1 day, unexpecedly, on our anniversary, from birth parents living in the village where we honeymooned, and 2 days before I was scheduled to have a fertility procedure done ( I believe that was the Lord’s way of telling me not to waste my money, LOL) He was 5 days old when we brought him home and all we had was a carseat, a half of a can of formula, and one onesie. He is beautiful and amazing and good. I never wanted to be a SAHM but I took one look at that beautiful face and was so instantly in love I did everything within my power over the 1st year of his life to get home to stay…I was able to do it a week before his 1st birthday. His final adoption was on my birthday. Every day I see the glorious love of Jesus in him. He is our JOY!

    1. Oh Tamara, I can so relate to your conviction that God had a different plan for you outside of fertility treatment. With our second adoption, we had been mulling over whether to persue low end treatment or not (we make no judgement at all of those who use all treatment options but for us, there was a hesistation to do ANY treatments at all and we were opposed to in-vitro for us.) We reluctantly went to an initial appointment on Nov 5, 2001. We had heard good things about the doc we went to, but he was hurried the day we had him and didn’t even complete his assessment dialogue with us. It felt “cold” but we walked out with a prescription and further appointments. Two days later, we got a call from our foster agency in which we were told a baby boy was born on (gulp!) Nov 5th and that we had been selected as the pre-adoptive family for him. KNOCK ME OVER WITH A FEATHER! We knew this was God telling us, “In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps.” And so we walked it out with Him and our little man is now a 9 year old strawberry blonde “life of the family” boy whom we love with all our hearts.

  34. We have been praying about adoption for years, and are now at a point where we feel God saying it’s time. We will begin very soon. It’s scary and exciting to me, but I know God has it all in His hands. I’m sorry for all you all have been through, but love how you trust God has the bigger picture and big plans!

  35. We found out in Februrary that a relative was expecting and we are in the full process of adopting the little newborn to be. Her due date is Sept 24-2011-we are so anxious to get her in our arms!! Her name is going to be Lydia Anne. Our son (who is 6) is so excited! He has been praying for the past few years for us to have more “playmates” for him. It was amazing to him to see God up close and in person!

    Well, like some of the other stories we haven’t been able to have more children since we had our son. I have a disease that makes it very very difficult-I don’t even have a cycle. It has been 5 1/2 years of waiting-and soon we will hold our little Lydia. Then in June we found out that I am expecting as well!! We were so excited to find this out!! Our little one is due Feb. 28 {if everything is okay}. We are having some issues-and I am high risk. So what will be will be-God giveth and He taketh away-Blessed be the name of the LORD!!! Thank you so much for all of the encouraging comments!! If you could at least say a prayer for us as we have these little blessings coming into our lives…and we have our dear blessing of a son-just please pray for peace that passes all understanding and that everything will be okay. Thank you so much and God Bless you all!!!

  36. Courtney,

    May the God who placed adoption on your heart and speaks of it in His Word give you the courage to be willing to say YES when He brings the opportunity. I hope you will read this: http://hisgracehisglory.blogspot.com/2010/06/adoption-lessons-grace-isnt-just-for-me.html

    Oh yes, and here is our short story (you can read more on our blog – or just click over for a quick picture! lol!)

    In March of 07, we were the parents of
    ONE biological son age 7.

    By Nov. of 09, we were the parents of
    TEN children ages 12, 10, 10, 9, 8, 8, 6, 6, 3, and 2.

    That is something like giving birth to three sets of triplets in just 2.5 years. . . .

    You can read more at hisgracehisglory.blogspot.com

    I LOVE your blog! Thank you for encouraging me in my vocation as a woman of God!

  37. I can’t believe I missed this post Courtney….thanks for letting me know. I am teary right now. God does have great plans with our friendship and with our families. He has revealed himself so much- what a faithful God we serve. Beautiful post. Love ya, Nelle

  38. Thank you for sharing your beautiful family.
    After facing years of secondary infertility, we became foster carers. We adopted the four children who came into our home without a family reunification plan. A sibling group of three and one more. God must have had them in our plan all along. Five years after our two youngest girls adoption was final, a miracle happened. I gave birth to our baby girl, no infertility or medical help, just a gift sent straight from heaven. And then again, another baby girl, another miracle, two years later. Twelve years of infertility and seven children have made for quite a ride here.
    I’m wondering how in the world you do it with eleven! I am having a very hard time with all of the overwhelming responsibilities. How does one handle the weight? And at what expense?
    It so very hard.
    Thank you for all you do!

    http://adoptionahigherpurpose.blogspot.com/

  39. I ordered the homeschool e-book noted in this blog, but didn’t receive any email confirmation of the order or the e-book other than the paypal charge. If anyone still monitors this thread, please let me know if there is a way to obtain the e-book.

    Thanks!
    -Mike P.

  40. Such a superb article you have introduced with us. In today’s, adoption is a big step. Eventually, many couples decide that their dreams are to become parents, not pregnant. They realize that raising a child together is what’s important, and whether that is through pregnancy or adoption doesn’t matter. Our team of innovative adoption professionals will help you create a personalized adoption plan that is right for you.

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