Congratulations Chris and Shelley

Right around Valentines Day this year, I got a call from Chris and Shelley. Chris, a social worker who works with families and Shelley, a news reporter, were doing their homework on adoption. By the time they called me, they knew that using a consultant was a good fit for them, but they wanted to know if I was a good fit. When we "clicked" on the phone and they asked how I felt about Shelley blogging their adoption journey on her news site and there was no hesitation, we all knew this was a journey we'd travel together.

Through it all, Shelley has used her voice, in their community and beyond, to share their adoption journey and educate others. She vowed from the beginning to tell "the good, the bad, and the ugly."

In May they were home study approved.

In June we created their family profile.

In July, they threw a few fundraisers.

And this past weekend, the first weekend in August, they met their daughter.

Friday I told them a birth mama was in labor hundreds of miles away.

Saturday, in the wee hours of the morning, she chose Chris and Shelley to be her daughter's forever family.

And Sunday, they met their daughter for the first time.

For their story, there was much that happened in between the lines above. Piles of paperwork to complete for their home study. Pictures to gather and stories to tell for their profile. Creative fundraisers to host to raise money for the costs of adoption. 

Hard work. Tears. Prayers. Waiting.

And then, in a matter of days, all of the work and tears and prayers and waiting was done. And worth it. And beautiful.

One of my favorite parts of their story? Shelley shared the details of meeting their birth mama with me:  

"I told her if Olivia turns out to be like her, we would be SO happy. And I truly meant it. She was funny, kind, so sincere and SELFLESS...When I look back at the past couple of weeks and the "no" we got...I am so confident that God had a bigger plan for our family and this was it. This whole situation just feels right -- like we were meant to be here and Olivia is meant to be ours." 

Congratulations, Chris and Shelley. She was definitely meant to be yours.

A special thanks to Ashli Hill of Isadora Photography for some of the pictures above.