Every good book, movie, or story has a beginning, middle, and end. Adoption is a story that has a beginning and somewhat of a middle, but a series of twists that never truly conclude the story; they just keep the story going. The story never really ends. Brian and Anne's first few chapters read like this...
Our story began by contacting Susan. Working with Christian Adoption Consultants and Susan has been great, she has been a valuable asset and wonderful encouragement as we have progressed through this adoption journey. Susan answers questions and gave so much guidance to us. She reminded us to not lose heart when we heard the “no’s.” Everyone who found out we were working with Susan raved about her...she is just that amazing!
When our home study was complete, that was an end to one part in bringing our little baby home. Then comes the hard part. The middle that pulls at every single emotion you have...showing your profiles to expectant families. Every single time we showed to an expectant family, I felt like this was the one. We just kept hearing “no.” For six months, “no” after “no.” It was hard. Really hard. It's during this time who you will find out who is truly supportive of your adoption journey. It’s really hard to be patient when you hear these whirlwind stories of adoption happening so quickly. Were we ever going to get picked? Was something wrong with us? Did we hear you wrong about adoption? Was God even hearing us? I heard this part of the process being equated to a storm. The process of getting matched is like a storm where you are thrown all over the place. It’s hard to see the calm after the storm while you’re in it. It’s hard to see the rainbow at the end when you feel like the storm will never be over.
In October 2016, the storm quieted for us. As I was getting ready to leave for work, I saw a call from a Florida number I didn’t know. We had matched! A baby boy due in January 2017. A baby boy whose due date was nine months from the date on our home study. It felt so surreal. It honestly felt like an out of body experience. In the middle of November, we flew down for Florida to meet the expectant family. As we discussed things over lunch, the topic of names came up. We wanted the expectant family's input on names. They wanted us to choose his name. We really only had one name, and it happened to be the same as the one the expectant family had. Cue the goosebumps. It was then that we knew we had gained family in Florida. On December 30th, 2016 I heard my phone ring again. I wasn’t even looking at it and we both knew. Two weeks early, expectant mom was in labor and baby was coming now. We threw everything we could possibly think of in suitcases to fly to Florida.
Our birth family has been awesome. They chose adoption which takes more courage and strength than it took us going through all the paperwork and waiting. They have been real with us about life. They have been incredibly gracious to us. They have poured out their hearts. They have reaffirmed us as adoptive parents. They have shown us what the rainbow after the storm can look like. Above all else, they have become part of our family...part of our story. We have a puzzle in our little one's room. It was a completely blank white puzzle when we started and slowly but surely it has become filled with names of the people that have been part of his story. A story that hasn’t ended, a beautiful story that is continually being written.
No comments:
Post a Comment