God Had A Plan For Our Family

During our engagement, we often talked about the excitement of starting our family, and we were both very much on the same page.  We both thought 3-4 kids would be great. Both of us have relatives who have experienced the joys of growing their families through adoption.  We agreed adoption would be something we would be very interested in pursuing as well. 

We had Jack less than 2 years after we were married.  We were so excited, and I might have gotten a little over zealous.  While holding my newborn infant still in the hospital room, I asked the doctor when it was okay to start trying for child number 2.  Boy, that made Tracie’s eyes get pretty big.  

Unfortunately, things did not go so well for us during the next 3 years.  We were thrilled that we had Jack and that he was growing strong and healthy, but our attempts at providing him with the little sibling we all wanted so badly proved to be very difficult. 

Through the many miscarriages and frustratingly unsuccessful fertility treatments, we grew disheartened.  All we wanted was a little baby to share our love with, and we just could not make it happen. 

One particularly hard day, I looked over at the woman I loved so much. She looked both physically and emotionally exhausted.  I recalled the conversations we had a few years earlier about adoption.  Maybe this was the right time to act on them.  I brought it up to Tracie and she immediately agreed.  We started researching the process and were recommended to Spirit of Faith Adoptions.  

We were very excited to get matched with an expectant mom within a few months of completing our paperwork with Spirit of Faith.  That excitement didn’t last, however, as this mom that we had been matched with for months suddenly cut off all contact. We never heard from her again. 

Feelings of despair set in again as we waited for another opportunity to grow our family.  It seemed like forever, but on the way home after my last day before Christmas break (I am a high school teacher), Tracie called and told me another mother wanted to meet us.  We were cautiously overjoyed. 

A wonderful young woman had come to her local pregnancy care center and needed help.  She was 8 months pregnant, still in college, and from a foreign country.  She could not even tell her own parents because her culture would be so unaccepting of her pregnancy. 

Although she was in a very difficult situation, she came to the right place.   A counselor there provided the support this young woman needed. She also connected her with Spirit of Faith when she said she was interested in adoption. 

She picked out our profile book.  We had a meeting at the pregnancy center to get acquainted.  We all seemed to feel an almost instant connection.  Soon after that, she gave birth to a beautiful, healthy baby girl, and we were on our way to becoming Ellie’s forever family!

We think of our daughter's birth mother frequently, and every time we do, we thank God for bringing our families together through adoption.