A Family’s Journey to Adoption

My husband and I always envisioned having a family of our own. After trying to conceive for many years, with countless medical visits, tests, loss and grief, I did not have the heart to continue down that path. We began to consider adoption to grow our family, but we didn’t know where to start. When we discussed adoption with some dear friends of ours, they referred us to New Life Adoptions.

The whole thing was full of prayer; doors opening and closing. We approached our journey in the same way, God closed and opened doors for us. Going in, we had the mindset to be okay with wherever God sent us. We didn’t know what New Life meant for us, but we were open to whatever God had planned.

As we began the adoption process, we always held our focus on the next step in front of us. After every visit with our social worker, we read and prayed through all of the information we received. Little did we know, the day we prayed over our application and mailed it in to New Life Adoptions was exactly nine months before our daughter Hannah was born.

A Birth Mother’s Journey to Adoption

I had learned of my pregnancy following a difficult divorce. At that time, I was already a single mother to my four-year old daughter, and I was unsure how I could add a new baby to the mix. When I found myself at New Life for support, and I watched my baby move on the ultrasound monitor, there was no denying that choosing life was the right choice, but I also strongly felt that this was not my baby to raise. This child was a gift God was allowing me to give to a family that so desperately needed and wanted a child of their own.

Christmas is my favorite holiday, so I hoped I would be able to choose a family before then in order bless them with the news of being chosen as a gift. When I was going through the family profiles, I got down to the last profile book in the stack. When I read their profile, my heart skipped a beat. They started it out with a story of ‘someday.’ How they would someday

take their little one to the zoo. As I read this story, I knew that these were the parents of my little girl. They radiated the love of Christ just from their pictures. I just knew I had found the family for my child!

Meeting Our Daughter’s Birth Mother

Our social worker set up a meeting with Inga. I remember writing down her name, Inga, and looking at it. I was so emotional when I realized this was all real. This was a real person with a real child. I was putting myself in her shoes when I looked at her name. How hard it must be to make that choice. I remember constantly thinking, ‘How could I ever thank or repay this woman enough for what she is choosing to do?’

Our first meeting with Inga and her parents felt comfortable as we easily connected with each other. Our relationship was like a rose quickly opening.

Meeting My Daughter’s Adoptive Parents

I remember that meeting in detail. Instantly, I knew that they were my baby’s parents. The excitement and nervousness I saw in their faces was a total reflection of how I felt. As we shared our stories, it was more and more evident that God had prepared our families for each other. From having attending the same small church, somehow without meeting each other, to having quite a few mutual friends, God’s hand was evident. There was no denying that this was the family for me.

In fact, soon after that meeting, I called my social worker with my decision adding, “Tell them Merry Christmas.”

 

Read their full story here.