Adoption Story: Jason and Hayley

God is always in the details. For Jason and Hayley, you can trace it from the very beginning when they knew they wanted to continue to grow their family through adoption. From how they found the right steps to begin the process, supportive people around them, an expectant family that chose them, and the race to finally meet their daughter. Read as Hayley shares the beautiful details...

Adoption truly is a journey and you do not know when you start what your path will be. For some it is fairly straight and smooth; for others there are many hills, valleys, and bumps along the way. I pray that anyone who has adoption on their hearts does not shy away because of the possible heartache. We have been there and would go through it again in a heartbeat because, in the end, it led us to our daughter. 

Our journey started in the spring of 2016 when it hit me, like a ton of bricks: I just knew we were supposed to adopt. I spoke to my husband, who had always wanted three children, and we started gathering information. During this time we struggled with the thought of, why would anyone choose us to adopt their baby when we already have two wonderful children. It was shortly after that thought entered my mind that a friend of mine shared a blog on Facebook. It was about a family, with children, adopting. It was just what I needed to see. I saw that the blog was from Christian Adoption Consultants and called in. The next day I received a call from Susan. I realized after talking to her that I had read so many of her blogs. She was so kind and we decided that we wanted and needed her help. We officially signed with her on June 1, 2016. She walked us through everything. She provided us people to choose from to do our home study, answered many questions, and made our beautiful profile book. 

We completed our home study the end of August 2016 and then we were ready to choose agencies! Susan provided us with many to choose from as well as sent us many situations that she received from certain agencies that work directly with CAC. We presented pretty evenly between those and the ones we saw from the agencies we were signed with. We were matched with an expectant mom in February of 2017. It was a situation we had received from Susan. Our hearts were overjoyed! We had just lost my grandma to Alzheimer’s the day before we were chosen and I just felt like it was God giving us joy in our time of sorrow. But very unexpectedly our match failed. We had a pediatrician refer to it as a miscarriage of the heart and I thought that was a great way to put it. For five months we loved that baby, dreamed of her, planned for her, named her, and prayed for her. Then she was gone from our lives and our future. During our whole process I was the upbeat, positive one and my husband was more reserved. After our failed match, he became my rock. Despite being so heartbroken as well, he assured me that God would bring us our baby. I sent Susan many emails and she even received some emotional phone calls from me as well. She was always so supportive and assured me, as my husband did, that God would bring us our baby. 

We waited a month to present again and received a “no” because we were farther away than the birth family wanted. Then we tried to present a couple of more times but due to strange happenings, did not get to. I remember thinking that maybe this was God’s way of protecting us from the heartache that comes with the “no’s.” I had begun praying that doors would be slammed shut if it was not our baby and that was definitely what was happening. Then, after I was in bed on Sunday night, October 1, my phone rang. I sat straight up, the grogginess immediately gone, when I saw it was the agency we had been matched with previously. I picked up and the person on the other end told me that a baby had been born the day before. I knew our answer was yes before I even heard any other details. She told me a baby girl had been born and her birth mom wanted to look at profiles. She asked if we wanted to present and I said 'YES!' My husband and I were both anxious and tried to not get our hopes up. That is hard to do! I tried to sleep that night but woke up a lot and would immediately start asking God to please let this be our daughter. I was just about to get up the next morning when my phone rang. I think my heart stopped. I picked up and our agency told us that we had been chosen! I was in shock. Our daughter was here and we could come get her! It was such an amazing feeling. After we got off of the phone I called my husband who was almost to work. He too had the shock and joy that I did. My husband booked our flights for that evening. We found out that the baby was being released from the hospital while we were driving to the airport. The person at the agency, who was absolutely wonderful, said she would pick her up and meet us when we got to town. 

We arrived at the hotel a little after 1:00 am. We didn’t wait long before the person from our agency walked in with our beautiful daughter. We were immediately in love. We had read so much about how attachment can take time and we just did not need it. We were attached to her right away. Our baby girl did not need any time either; she cuddled right up to us as content as we were. The hotel left us a note on our door letting us have a much extended checkout time and we were so thankful for that. The lady from the agency had brought us a goody bag from the hospital with diapers, formula, baby wash, and even hand knitted hats. She had a car seat for us to borrow and even had her in a new outfit and a swaddle. It was all just so helpful and wonderful. We were able to wake up the next morning and just spend time holding her. We just kept staring at her and tearing up. She was ours! She is amazing and beautiful and our precious gift from God. The love was just overwhelming. Having two biological kids I will say, there was no difference in the love we felt for her. Her brothers are absolutely in love with her as well. We did a video call to tell them that they had a baby sister and I have never seen them so excited!

Baby girl’s birth mommy signed papers the next day and we got to sit and talk with her. She amazes me! She is so wonderful and we all love her. We were fortunate enough to be able to meet her parents as well, who, as a family, had chosen us to raise this precious baby girl. It was such a blessing to be able to get to know them a bit. They seemed so much like us and our family. That was one of the reasons the birth mom, let’s call her “S” picked us. “S” told us that she felt so much better about her decision after meeting us. Her parents kept saying, “This is right” when we were out to lunch with them. It was wonderful to have them all be sure about this decision. We have a semi open adoption. When we first started this process that was what we were aiming for, but now I wish there was more contact. I did get to tell “S” that if she ever wanted more contact the agency knew they could give out my number and email. I hope to hear from her someday but will respect whatever level of openness she decides on. We talk very openly about the adoption and “S” with our boys. They would love to meet her one day. Adoption is part of all of our lives now and we will always openly talk about it and our sweet girl’s amazing birth mom. 

I never dreamed that adoption would be part of my life like it is now. God laid adoption on my heart and then proceeded to put all of the right people in our path. Susan was such a blessing to us. Through her, God led us to the best person to do our home study, and now post placement visits, and to the agency where we would be united with our daughter. I am still in awe of how everything came together to make our family complete. 

God truly does write the best stories. 

Adoption Story: Ryan and Kacie

Today we have the gift of hearing some of the real and raw that comes with adoption. When Ryan and Kacie began with Christian Adoption Consultants, they had expectations like most prospective adoptive couples do about what their journey would look like. How things would work. The timing. The wait. I'm so thankful for Kacie's honest and vulnerable heart as she shares how all of those expectations were shattered when God broke in.

When Ryan and I first started in the adoption process, we heard it could be a difficult journey. I thought, "What could be so hard? I know there's a lot of paperwork, but adoption ends in a baby! What better motivation is there to keep going?" It was only after we had begun receiving "Not yet" responses again and again that I wondered, "What if we never end up with a baby after all?" I even started asking God, "I know you called us to this, but why aren't you using us? Is this still your call for us?"

Just when I wasn’t sure if I could continue to say yes and receive a no, we got a call from Susan. We had matched! We were ecstatic! Over the next two months, we announced, we prepared, we traveled. We wanted to be at the hospital when baby was born even if we never got to meet baby’s birth mother since it was a closed adoption, so we went to Arizona and we waited. Several days went by, and on baby’s due date, we got a devastating call. Baby had been born, and his mother decided to parent. We were in shock. We cried, we packed, and we traveled home with an empty car seat. The day after we got home, I prayed. I asked God, “What do we do now?” I wrote down two things I felt God telling me: 1) Don’t get rid of those clothes, and 2) Don’t worry so much about the money.

Throughout the week following our failure, Ryan and I prayed about how to move forward. We considered accepting another match opportunity with the same agency, but after visiting with Susan, I simply told them the same words that Susan emailed to us: "What we are really praying for is a really quick match or a stork drop.” After such a recent disruption, we were still grieving, and we honestly did not have high hopes.  Unbeknownst to us, at the same time I was sending that email, an expectant mother came for an intake at the same agency. Because she was at the very end of her pregnancy, she asked to see family profile books right away which was different than the agency's usual protocol. I will never forget the call I got that same morning. “Kacie, there is a situation I want to tell you about. I don’t have a lot of information, but we still have one of your profile books, and I need to know within the hour if you want it shown.” We said yes. So did she. We got the call we had matched again. We were hopeful, but so nervous because of having our recent heartache.

This time, the adoption was to be open. We were fortunate enough to FaceTime the expectant mother shortly after matching, and 12 days from when we got the call, we were on a flight to meet her prior to her induction. When we met her, one of the things she said was, “I asked my mom to research adoption agencies my whole pregnancy. She never did until two weeks ago. I am so glad she waited, or I might never have gotten to choose you.” The match with this amazing woman led us to our son, and we are fortunate enough to now be parents to a beautiful baby boy! We praise God for giving her the strength to grow our family with part of hers, and for letting us be there when he took his first breath. God truly writes THE BEST AND MOST AMAZING of stories.

The practical advice I have for anyone struggling with the matching process or with a failed match are these:

• Take special care to nourish and enjoy relationships with your current family members, whether it is your spouse, child, or pet. When God does give you your baby, you'll be grateful for the memories you made during the wait.
• Try not to worry so much about the money. I know it's hard, because adoption is expensive, but if you are $800 more in debt, for example, when your adoption is done because you had weekly date nights, went to that concert together, or took a weekend getaway during the most difficult part of the journey, wasn't it a good investment?
• Continue to make commitments unrelated to adoption. During part of our wait, I mistakenly said to myself, "I can't commit to that. We might have a baby."  It is hard not to get depressed if you clear your calendar and have nothing else to do than think about adoption 24/7. This goes back to giving it up to God. God doesn't make mistakes. Sometimes His plan takes longer than we want or looks different than we thought it would, but in the end we understand why.

As I reflect on our adoption journey, I know that God gave us the pain of a disrupted adoption to build our faith in Him. That shock and heartache reminded us to better cherish the blessings we already had, and most of all, to remind us how it feels to TRULY let go of our plan and submit to His. My hopes for a baby had turned into expectations, and my expectations needed to be shattered to see His perfect plan.

Adoption Story: Adam and Dani (again!)

No two adoption stories are alike. We see that all the time around here. But it's true even within the same family. When Adam and Dani adopted their daughter, it ended up being a whirlwind of getting a call and hopping one of the first flights available to meet her. This time, instead of a whirlwind, Adam and Dani had the gift of time to prepare and build relationships with their son's birth family. Both stories perfectly ordained by God. And two beautiful adoptions that made Adam and Dani a family of FOUR!

Two years ago on the Fourth of July we got a phone call that changed our family forever - our beautiful daughter was on her way, born July 6th. This year, on July 5th, we got a similar call - a biracial couple, due in October, wanted to place their child with our family. This time, because we had a few months instead of two days to prepare, we got to meet and build a relationship with the expectant mama ahead of the birth. That relationship was beautiful and gave us a ton of insight and compassion into the origin story of this baby boy, but it also came with some challenges - the interpersonal delicacies and dramas of an adoptive/birth family relationship were challenging in our situation! But through it all, God called us to be faithful and kind, never taking our eyes off of the calling He has on our family and the way he was at work in all of us through this process. That's not to say that we handled all of the twists and turns perfectly but we knew that we had a Savior and Sustainer in our corner, a God who already loved this little boy (and his birth family) more than we ever could.

We planned to be in Florida a couple of weeks before the due date. Adam works in tech and has flexibility to work from anywhere, and I wanted to honor our expectant mom's wishes by being available for doctor's appointments and other needs. But the very day we were flying across the country, Baby Boy was born! Talk about a wild, God-ordained story! We were traveling more than a thousand miles, with tickets that had been purchased weeks before, but landed in Florida within two hours of his birth. From there it became so apparent that God was at work in our story. Through every uncertainty or challenge he was walking right beside us, "securing our passage." 

We love these verses:

“This is the kind of fast day I’m after:
    to break the chains of injustice,
    get rid of exploitation in the workplace,
    free the oppressed,

    cancel debts.

What I’m interested in seeing you do is:

    sharing your food with the hungry,

    inviting the homeless poor into your homes,

    putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad,

    being available to your own families.

Do this and the lights will turn on,

    and your lives will turn around at once.

Your righteousness will pave your way.

    The God of glory will secure your passage.

Then when you pray, God will answer.

    You’ll call out for help and I’ll say, ‘Here I am.’"

Isaiah 58:6-9 (The Message)

We named our son Isaiah, in part because of these verses. Through every uncertainty God has been so faithful. The lights have indeed come on and we are grateful. We are now a family of FOUR and we feel unbelievably honored to carry two beautiful origin stories of rescue, redemption and hope throughout our family life.

Countdown to Forever

This week is a big one for our family. Yesterday, in a little courtroom in Illinois, a judge declared to my brother and his wife that they are officially the parents to their daughter, Elodie. A truth they've known in their hearts for over a year from the very moment they heard about her life.

In the days leading up to that moment in the courthouse when Elodie was officially named a Weston, Meg made a series of posts about the days surrounding Elodie's birth, her beautifully brave birth mama, and how adoption has impacted their family. Meg has been gracious enough to let me share her thoughts here as we celebrate Elodie's life, adoption, and the beautiful story God is writing...

November 30th 

Let the countdown commence! We are 8 days from Elodie becoming officially adopted. 

This is Tim waiting probably around 3am on June 21st. He couldn’t sleep or relax. He was the most anxious I’ve ever seen him. Little did he know, he’d be meeting that precious baby we had been praying for all night in roughly 3 more hours.

It was nearing 6am and the nurses told us to go get something to eat. The doctor wanted mama E to rest for an hour as she’d been working so hard all night. We found some vending machines and sat down for a quick bite. We were gone no more then twenty minutes and when we returned mama E exclaimed with excitement, “Did you see HER yet!?”

Right then and there, Tim and I were in tears. God had blessed us with a girl! A nurse escorted us to the nursery and we got to meet Elodie for the first time.

7 days to go!

December 1st 

Later that morning, mama E was transferred to a recovery room. Once she was settled in, the nurse brought Elodie in from the nursery. I remember mama E being so excited to hold her and to study her tiny fingers and toes.

It felt like such an intimate space and mama E was incredibly gracious to allow us in her room. Once she soaked Elodie in, she looked at me and said, “Okay, it’s your turn to hold your daughter!”

It was a feeling I’ll never forget. This woman who just gave birth placed that beautiful baby girl in my arms and made me a mama once again. It’s so profound - the selfless love that mama E has for her children.

6 days to go!

December 2nd

Tim had this deep desire for a daughter. He even had me keep a small bin of girl clothes just in case we ever needed it. I remember having a serious conversation with him about how it’s very possible we would have a family of all sons. However that didn’t mean he’d never have a girl to spoil one day, because maybe he’d get a granddaughter down the line. He’d nod in agreement but I could still see that glimmer of hope in his eyes.

I had held her for quite awhile when I realized he was patiently and eagerly waiting for his turn. He snuggled her in with such a proud smile on his face!

Elodie, you are the daughter your daddy longed for.

5 days to go!

December 1st

To paint a picture of adoption as a fairytale would be a mistake. There is brokenness, too.

June 22nd was a broken day. Mama E was being discharged and signing temporary custody to us beforehand.

As she was being wheeled out, Tim and I walked alongside her. She was in tears. I had no words. What do you say in such a hard, emotional moment? I literally cannot imagine how that feels and will never pretend to.

All I could do was give her a hug. As the elevator door closed, my heart broke for her and for Elodie. The bond that had been made for the last 9 months while Elodie was knit in her womb was at least partially broken.

So when I say it’s an honor to be Elodie’s mama, I mean that I desire to mother her in a way that honors the selflessness and bravery of mama E.

4 days to go!

December 2nd

This is Elodie's Grandma. We first met back in 2012 in the waiting room of a court house. She was there worried about who her grandson, Jacob, was with and how he was doing. We quickly learned that she is fiercely protective of her grand babies and would go to the ends of the earth for them.

Our relationship has developed over time, just as any other relationship does. It started out in the middle of McDonalds over cheeseburgers and Christmas presents. We continued to meet every couple of months until eventually she was in our living room for Christmas celebrations and enjoying birthday parties along with our entire family.

We’ve adopted each other. Yes, we adopted her grand babies but likewise she’s adopted us too. She’s fully accepted our family, as she even claims Griffien as her grandson. We are family.

3 days to go!



December 6th

Since mama E was discharged, Elodie was put in the nursery. At first, we were told we’d have to be in the waiting room and come in whenever she needed fed. I was heartbroken. We wanted to bond with our baby girl. That’s when Tim put on his tough daddy look and demanded to speak with a nurse supervisor.

He explained our situation and sure enough a sweet nurse came up with the idea for us to have the private feeding room for mother’s who had babies staying long term but still wanted to breastfeed. (Side note: Those are some serious superhero mamas!)

We knew that if a mom came in needing to breastfeed then we’d be asked to step out. However, it didn’t happen while we were there on the 23rd so we were able to snuggle and bond with Elodie all. morning. long. 

2 days to go!


December 7th

On the afternoon of the 23rd, we got word that Elodie was good to be discharged. We could finally bring her home to meet her eager big brothers!

With adoption comes a lot of paperwork and so it came without surprise that before we could leave we’d have to sign our names everywhere. To be honest, I don’t even remember what we were signing. We were just excited to be heading HOME!

After signing who-knows-what, we gathered our things to leave. The nurse, who took care of Elodie while she was in the nursery (she’s also the one who got us the private room), and the caseworker walked out with us. I’m so glad we got a picture! These are people who often don’t get recognized but who are definitely apart of her story. Thank you for all you do, nurses and caseworkers!

1 day to go!

And then, yesterday, there was a simple court hearing. In a small little room, the same one we all packed into for Jacob's adoption almost exactly three years before, Elodie officially became a Weston. The judge and court aids and attorneys in the room were all grins, proud big brothers sat at the plaintiff's table with suckers they had been given, and the bailiff kindly gave me freedom to take all the pictures I wanted.

The standard questions were asked, "Where do you work, Mr. Weston? What is your address Mrs. Weston?" I heard by brother choke up when he was asked if he was "prepared to take on the responsibility and liability of being Elodie's father forever." And then, the judge with kind eyes banged the gavel and declared "Tim and Meg Weston, from this moment on, Elodie is your daughter until the end of time."

I sat there and wondered if he knew he was just making an earthly declaration of what God had already ordained in the Heavens for this girl, and her family, long before... 

Repost: Family Advent Traditions

To celebrate the first of December, I thought I would repost some of our family's favorite advent traditions through the years. As our kids get older, some of the ways we've paused as a family to celebrate Christ's coming and anticipate His return have changed a bit. Those spaces look different with toddlers than they do with pre-teens. So here's a little VanSyckle compilation of our advent family traditions over the years in hopes that you'll join us celebrating, waiting, and anticipating the One who holds our true hope.

Each year as advent approaches, we try to be purposeful as a family to make space to celebrate God breaking into our world and anticipating him coming again to make all things right. It's so easy to fill up our calendars and our hearts this season with busyness and unrealistic expectations. With hope misplaced in perfect decorations, ideal gifts, and trying to create flawless memories, we lose what really matters. 

Although I love all the season brings with cozy fires, hot chocolate, lights twinkling, and time with family, I want our family to remember why we exchange gifts. Why we celebrate. And why our hope isn't in a beautifully decorated home or the gifts on our wish lists.

Advent didn't start in a stable. It started in a garden thousands of years before. And rehearsing the truth of God's grand redemption plan is a good (and needed) way to center our hearts this season. Here's a compilation of what our family has done through the years (since the kids were toddlers) up until now. Each one has a link with more details and resources.

This year we're doing Ann Voskamp's Unwrapping the Greatest Gift again. Not only is the book incredibly beautiful, but it's rich with gospel truths. Since the kids are older now (eight and ten) they're a good age to focus more on the story and have significant discussions about what advent and anticipation means to our family daily. Starting tomorrow, we'll be taking more time around the dinner table each night to go through the book.

We've also loved celebrating advent with our much beloved The Jesus Storybook Bible. This is a favorite book in our home and I love how every single story points to Jesus. Reading through it snuggled up together each night is a sweet way to tie God's plan to send Jesus to a hurting and broken world and come back to make all things new together for little (and not so little) hearts.

And when the kids were little, we celebrated with a Jesse Tree for several years. Each night they unwrapped an ornament to hang (or found it hidden in the house) that represented a different part of God's redemption story. It was fun to watch them make the connections to the prophecies in the Old Testament and a little baby born in Bethlehem as they hung each wooden ornament on our little Jesse Tree. 

Here's a few other ways we've tried to be intentional (and fun) at Christmas...

Teaching our kids to be grateful and generous

Our take on Elf on the Shelf