Adoption Story: Whitney and Chelsea

If there was book detailing Whitney and Chelsea's adoption stories, it's pages would explode with breathtaking tales of God's care and faithfulness. It would read of love, need, faith, and provision. It would lead you through vivid displays of God's heart to knit families together.

Whitney and Chelsea watched God incredibly provide for them to adopt their son from Ethiopia in 2012. They brought home a sick, malnourished little boy and watched God transform him into a happy, healthy, loving, active son right before their very eyes. Whitney and Chelsea saw that God loves to care for children. Soon, they were ready to bring home another little one in need of a family.

In February 2013 they began with their adoption consultant, this time hoping to adopt domestically. I loved getting to know this beautiful couple and their amazing faith and love through making their profile, praying for them, and supporting them through each step along their adoption journey!

After just completing an expensive international adoption they were very aware that God was going to have to show up big time financially to make another adoption happen. Under the section on their  application asking what their budget for this adoption was, they simply wrote, "Whatever the Lord provides." They knew that they had a great need and they believed that their great God was able to meet it for the sake of a child.

In June their home-study had been updated and they began to learn about adoption situations. They also saved, applied for grants, held a puzzle fundraiser, and prayed for many expectant mothers along the way. The wait was not easy. (It never is!)

Then in October, they heard about a baby boy whose mother was making the courageous choice of adoption. They believed that God was leading them to present, but they knew they did not yet have all the funds they needs for the adoption fees. Still, they trusted, knowing that if this was the baby for them, then God would provide all that they needed.  And sure enough, they were chosen and He was ready to provide!

Now two beautiful brothers, born worlds away from one another, will grow up in this safe, loving Christian family together. They will grow up hearing again and again about the incredible God who powerfully made a way for them to come home.

I'm so thankful to have been able to read some of the pages of this story as it's unfolded.

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Adoption Story: Paul and Michelle

There is no "one size fits all" when it comes to what an expectant mom hopes for in an adoptive family. Many large families who have a heart for adoption never pursue it simply because they assume they'll never get chosen by an expectant mom. I'm so glad that Paul and Michelle didn't let that potential fear have the last word in their adoption journey!

Paul and Michelle worked with their consultant, Tracie, in 2009 and had a whirlwind adoption.  Then, in November 2013 they began with her again for their 2nd adoption. They started presenting their profile to expectant moms in June of 2014; they waited, they prayed, and they believed that God would bring about this adoption in His own perfect timing.  Just three months later they were matched!

They spent the next several months building a beautiful relationship with their baby's birth mom. They flew down to get to know her better, supported her, encouraged her, and prayed for her every step of the way. They invested their very hearts and lives in loving her, believing that God had specifically called them to love and care for her, not just the baby she was carrying.  It's one thing to love your child's birth mom when the adoption has happened and the baby is in your arms. It's another thing to love before that without guarantees. And that's what they did.

Right before Thanksgiving, their beautiful daughter entered the world. As it often goes with adoption, there were some very difficult and uncertain moments. But Paul and Michelle were committed to loving, no matter what, even when it was hard. And now their family of eleven is at home soaking up new baby snuggles, their hearts forever connected to the woman whose sacrificial love gave their daughter a life filled with hope.

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Adoption Story: Michael and Signe

Signe and Michael contacted us at the beginning of April after they'd been referred to their consultant through a friend. We spoke on the phone several times as they carefully considered the next steps God had for them in their journey to becoming parents. A little over a month later, they began and I had the joy of making their adoptive family profile (the book that potential birthmoms look at when considering adoptive families). As I got to know them two things especially stood out to me about this sweet couple: their love for God and their love for people. Michael and Signe are people that truly live their lives with hearts full of love.

They were homestudy ready near the end of August. Three months later, they were made aware of an expectant mom making an adoption plan who specifically wanted an adoptive couple in their home state. They prayed and they talked about it intently, asking God to lead them. Just before profiles were going to be presented, they felt the Lord give them peace to present. Hours later they got the call they had been praying for. She had chosen them!

For the next several months while they waited for their baby to be born, I watched Michael and Signe profoundly reflect God's heart of love. As deeply as they longed to be parents, they didn't focus on their own dreams-they sought to selflessly pour out their energy, time, compassion, and prayers into loving their baby's birthparents. The way they sought to love without any guarantee of how it would end was truly beautiful for me to watch.  

And then, almost exactly nine months after that first inquiry they made about adoption consulting, their daughter was born! 

This little girl's life has been covered in love...from the love that led her birthparents to give her the gift of life, to the love and prayers that Michael and Signe whispered for so long leading up to holding her in their arms...her life has forever been marked by love. God's love is so powerfully and vividly displayed through the gift of adoption!

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