Jerry and Gayla have been praying for children for years. Their hearts held a special place for adoption and knew pursuing adoption was the way God called them to grow their family. Last June they started with Christian Adoption Consultants and began their home study. By the end of July their home study and profile was complete. For the next several months, they prayed over possible situations with expectant families and continued to wait on God's timing. But no one anticipated just how their story would unfold. How one night would change everything.
On a Tuesday night in April, they heard about an expectant mom looking for an adoptive family for her son. She was due soon and Jerry and Gayla began reading though the details of the situation and praying through their decision. An update within hours came that this expectant mother was actually in labor and decisions would be made more quickly than they anticipated. Gayla and I talked late that night about presenting their profile to this brave mama and I promised I would be praying with them.
Gayla shares the rest of their story: There were definitely some unknowns and some fears as we looked this situation over and the fact that it was happening right then was so overwhelming! We just didn't know what to do and I almost tremble looking back on it all now how close we came to telling her we just didn't think we could do this. We kept pacing and praying .... For some reason every time we thought about texting [the caseworker] and telling her to count us out we just couldn't quite do it. In the middle of all this I got another text from the caseworker: "He's here! And he's very cute!" I told her we were still praying for direction and also praying for this little boy and his mama. I knelt to pray another time and just pled for direction! Immediately a song came to mind that we used to sing in school and I hadn't thought of in years:
Bigger than all the shadows that fall across my path, God is bigger than any mountain that I can or cannot see, Bigger than my confusions, bigger than anything, God is bigger than any mountain that I can or cannot see. Bigger than all the giants of fear and unbelief, God is bigger than any mountain that I can or cannot see, Bigger than all my hangups, bigger than anything, God is bigger than any mountain that I can or cannot see.
That was our answer! There were so many questions, fears, confusions, hangups and tears but God was bigger! So at 11:30 that evening we texted the caseworker and told her we were going to throw our "yes" out there and let God choose if it was for us. We went to bed praying for that dear mama with a brand new baby. The next morning we received the call: "Congratulations! You have a son! He's beautiful and he looks just like you guys!" I was speechless and in tears! So I called Jerry and told him we had a little boy and everything went into high gear...
Thursday we flew to meet our son. As soon as our plane landed, we followed our caseworker to the hospital and without any time to think we were headed up to Brianna's room (the birth mother). Her mother was also there and was very supportive of her adoption plan. It was very evident they loved this sweet little boy so much, but they told us more than once that they just knew he would have a better life with us. They also shared that they loved us and so many things about us had been what they were hoping for in parents for this little guy. We spent an incredible time with them there in the hospital room. Then they gave us each one last hug and Jax one last squeeze and they turned and walked out the door. I will never forget all the emotions right then - tremendous relief that she was solid in her decision, but also realizing what an enormous loss she was experiencing! My mind has, the last day or so, turned so often to birth mama and grandma and I just can't help but wonder how they are coping and I wish we could thank them once again, give them another hug, and tell them all is well. Once Brianna was discharged we went right into signing all the papers to complete the adoption and then on the heels of that Jax was discharged and we were free to take him out into the big wide world! And the amazing thing was it had not even been 48 hours since we very first heard about him! He's very sweet and we already cannot imagine life without him. We feel so incredibly blessed and unworthy how everything worked out and went so smoothly for us. It was answers to all the prayers of all our friends and family. There are too many little details and answered prayers to even name them all here but it has been very obvious to us over and over again that truly God was the one writing this story and Jax was always meant to be ours... His dear birth mama and grandma will always hold a special place in our hearts and he will always know how much they loved him.
Just this week Gayla sent me these sweet words:
So I've been really thinking on this whole adoption experience and as I hear the cry of those still in the wait, my heart truly hurts for them. It seems like there is just nothing to say that really answers the questions when one is in that situation. I heard so many times that when its the right child and the right situation the Lord would work it out. I believed that deep down in my heart because I know that He is truly the only one who can make these things come to pass, but still....when you're waiting and waiting and hearing no after no and the confusion is so dark at times, then it just plain feels like it WILL NEVER HAPPEN FOR US! But it did! And now EVERYTHING makes sense. I wanted to let you know once again how much we appreciate you and everything you have done for us - life is good over here! And this whole experience has strengthened my faith in the great big God we serve and in what He is able to do!
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