When Tim and Andrea decided to grow their family for adoption a second time, it would have been easy to assume it would be a similar process with the help of Christian Adoption Consultants. But an unexpected global pandemic and job change quickly changed all of it. You can find the story of their first son here, and today, Andrea shares the story of how their second son was an unexpected, long-awaited, and beautiful surprise.
Back in January 2020, we completed and submitted their paperwork for our second adoption and were eagerly anticipating being matched with a birth mom within a short amount of time. Our first son's adoption happened quickly and we only had to wait a mere five months for his arrival after being matched with his birth mom just three weeks after our paperwork was completed. But God had different plans for our family the second time around. The first change to our plans occurred when the COVID pandemic arrived in the United States, just eight weeks after we were fully active. The pandemic stalled and shifted a lot of things worldwide and slowed down adoption placements in the US. With the pandemic, we knew our time would be further extended. In the middle of the pandemic, I accepted an offer for a new job. It was a nerve-wrecking step to take because in a new role, FMLA was not going to be possible until a year after employment which meant that if we matched with birth mom and baby, Tim would have to take FMLA during the adoption transition time. Yet, through both the pandemic and a new job for me, we trusted God was in control and had the best plan for our family.
Fast forward a whole year later to the spring of 2021, and I began to feel an impression on my heart that said "profile book." Not knowing what it meant, I dealt with it all summer long, often asking Tim if he thought we should update our profile book. When we first created our book, our first son was only 18 months old and by this time he was nearly three years old and we were wondering if we should update it.
An evening in October, Tim finally agreed we should get new family pictures and update our profile book. The next morning I emailed Susan, our CAC adoption consultant, to tell her we would like her to start a profile book update. A mere three hours after I sent the email, I received a phone call from a Florida adoption agency during my lunch break at work. The social worker on the line greeted me with a pleasant comment, but the one that forever stands out in my mind was "There is a baby that has been born and is waiting for his forever family. Would you like to become a family of four?" Elated, I 3-way called Tim and together we worked out the plans with the social worker to meet the little guy the following day down in Florida. Amidst all of the discussion and doubt surrounding our profile book, surprisingly it was the one thing that was never even used in our son's adoption since the adoption agency selected us instead of the birth family in our unique situation.
Despite having to wait 22 months and view over 105 expectant mom profiles, we see God's handiwork throughout the entire time. First, we didn't have to do any traveling during the start of the pandemic when travel was uncertain. Second, we were matched with our son just two months after I became eligible to have FMLA through work. Third, God provided many provisions from gift cards from family and friends, to grandparents to watch our first son, a donation of housing to avoid having to rent, and so much more while we awaited clearance from ICPC in Florida. And through it all God definitely challenged us with a lesson in patience for His perfect timing. Now home with our two sons, we are overjoyed to be a family of four.
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