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: