A match

The day before we celebrated our 4th anniversary, we got a call from our agent Sue Deckrow. A family had called her stating that they were going to be placing a child for adoption. Sue has known this family for a few years and has worked with them before. They were interested in another couple, yet Sue for whatever reason took our book as well. The family just fell in love with our book (and us as well, I guess).

Sue then called us. We were pretty excited thinking "Oh, this sounds awesome"... I then asked "When is she due?"... "In June". Ever since we've started this adoption process we have been praying for immediate placement. We told Sue all we wanted was a short term placement (a placement is when you actually take custody of the baby). Sue tried four times to either match or place us with a short term or immediate placement. Sue expected us to say no because we had been very clear about what we wanted. She did tell us that she knows this family well.

When my dear sweet husband and I sat down to talk about this, which also involved me dropping a hot potato on my hand, we tried to think of many many reasons why we shouldn't take this match. We prayed a lot. The only reason we could come up with is that we didn't want to wait til June to be placed. We knew that if we were face to face with God, that reason would not fly. God quickly made it obvious that this is what He wants us to pursue. He gave us His peace.

On our 4th anniversary we accepted this match. A few days later we met with the birthgiver and her family. They gave us a couple of pictures of the first ultrasound. They asked us to come to every appointment. They asked me if I wanted to be the birthing coach. And, they were very clear about wanting us both in the delivery room. The last adoption attempt the birthgiver wanted nothing to do with us. She didn't want to meet us, didn't want us at appointments. We had no pictures or communication with her. This has been the opposite in every way possible. Normally, Sue doesn't match people this early on in their pregnancies unless she is confident they will place.

A lot of people have shared their hesitation about us taking such a long match. But, when we took a short match (6 weeks til the due date), it failed. So, the length of time doesn't seem to matter. We either trust God in ALL things or we spend the next 7 - 8 months fearing what will happen. Are we scared? Yes, of course but we are learning to trust Him more.

We are reminded now more than ever why we are adopting. We aren't adopting simply because we want kids. Medically we have been cleared since the end of July to try biologically. We are adopting because we are living out the Redemption Story. He has adopted us first.

We do still have all the money we raised but need to raise some additional funds. We will be starting some fundraising in the next few weeks. We will have some gifts that will be available to buy for Christmas presents. Any money we don't use towards our adoption will go to help someone else adoption.