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.