Adoption Story: Cris and Claudia

Cris and Claudia thought maybe it was too late. With two older boys, I remember the first time they asked me if they had waited too long to add to their family through adoption. They wondered if an expectant mom would choose them. Ultimately, they wondered if they had missed the opportunity for God to make their family of four a family of five. I'm thrilled today as Claudia shares how instead of being too late, God worked things out in his perfect timing for their family...

I guess we are not your typical adoptive parents; our biological kids are older, and consequently, we are older too. We have dreamed of adopting for over 20 years. And I confess, some times during those years, I thought it was never going to happen. I thought I missed my timing. During that time, God was working something beautiful in our family. The desire to adopt started in my heart; since I was a child I always knew it. Over the years, I can see how that desire in my husband’s heart grew bigger and bigger. Until he got to a point where he could not even start talking about adopting our little girl without getting all teary eyed. When we first shared our dream with our families – 20 years ago – the reaction wasn’t positive. Most of it wasn’t negative either. Adoption was such a foreign concept to our families, that I think they didn’t really know how to react. We have watched them over the past year, as they became totally on board. Totally supportive. God had been doing something in their hearts as well. We realized, our adoption journey was not only our own. Our relatives, and our close friends were also on this journey with us. 

We kept waiting for the right time to officially begin pursuing our adoption. But it was never the right time. There was always something that prevented us from getting started; the kids, a job, an illness, the house, a move, lack of finances – all good valid reasons to postpone an adoption. Then one day in 2016, my husband said to me, “you know, I’m not getting any younger. We either try to adopt now, or we don’t do it at all.” Wow! Those were the words I had been waiting to hear for decades!  It required a leap of faith. It required the understanding that the right time, in our eyes, the convenient time, was never going to happen. We had to have faith and know that God was on our side.

A friend had recommended a homestudy agency in our town as the first step. They recommended that we start with an adoption consultant – they gave us CAC’s contact information. And that is how we became connected with Susan VanSyckle and Christian Adoption Consultants. I can not begin to express how grateful we are for Susan! She always had such a positive attitude, it was uplifting!  Every time we met with her, or spoke over the phone, we came away from those experiences feeling secure in our decision, and feeling like we were being guided by someone who genuinely cared and prayed about our situation. 

We began our home study process. Here is my journal entry for that day:

August 7, 2016

PILES. I see over there – a pile. It’s a pile of paper. This is not just another pile in the house. Right now, I have piles everywhere. In the kitchen, there is a pile of dirty dishes in the sink. I have a growing pile of clothes in the laundry. The office desk is filling with piles of bills and other to-do’s. All of my piles are crying out for my attention. They all need me. They all belong to a cycle of repetition. The house work never ends. Therefore, sometimes the piles just get ignored for a little while. It’s a Sunday afternoon. I am resting in bed, and once again I see the pile of paper on top of my credenza. This pile is different. It’s not just another pile – this one will change everything. This one will bring an addition to our family. I like this pile. The thought of going through this pile is both exciting and scary at the same time. But God is God. And I know adoption is part of what He planned for our family. So courageous faith is required at this moment. It seems like this first step is the hardest, but I pray for courage to arise within us. We can do this. God has “got our back.” So let the home study begin!

Our adoption journey, home study to placement, took 11 months. I have never felt God closer to us than in those 11 months. It was the scariest thing we have ever done as a family, but we could feel God so close to us every step of the way.

The pain of not being selected after presenting a profile was one of the things I was not emotionally prepared for. But God spoke to us even in those times.  Here is my journal entry after one of times that felt like a rejection.

June 6, 2017

I hear Him say, “Trust me.” And I wonder if He sees me here, knee deep in sinking sand. Slowly being pulled down. I remind Him, “This is too overwhelming for me, my heart can not take it. The rejection is too painful. I don’t want to read another adoption success story. I don’t want to fill out another form. I don’t want to overnight another profile package. This is too painful and too hard.” And He replies, “Trust me.” (A little over one month later, we met our little angel).

Today, we hold our precious little girl in our arms. We are so grateful for everything that God has done. We are humbled by God’s goodness to our family. It was fun to watch our family as they met our little girl for the first time. My mother held her in her arms and cried, realizing how miraculously God has brought her to us. My mother in law recently visited from Brazil to meet her new grand daughter. I watched her hold our little girl and whisper in her ear, “You are the best thing that has ever happened to our family, little girl.”