God Brings Light out of Darkness: Our Family’s Adoption Story

November is National Adoption Month, and there are millions of families all over the world that can testify to the amazing blessings that adoption brings. While my family’s story is very personal, I am hoping that by telling it, I can encourage other couples who are thinking about adoption.

My husband and I were married for two years when God blessed us with our firstborn daughter in 2004. Two years later, he provided us with another gift, our second daughter! Soon after this, the world experienced the global financial crisis of 2007 and 2008, so we decided to wait to have more children.

Then, a few years later when we decided we would like to have another baby, we couldn’t because I had severe endometriosis. So in May 2012, we were at the hospital preparing for my surgery to remove endometriosis, when the nurse told us I couldn’t have the surgery because my pregnancy test came back positive! We were both shocked and excited. However, when I had an ultrasound a few days later, the technician was unable to find the baby. A few days after that, I experienced sharp pain, and my doctor told us to go straight to the hospital. Eventually the doctors figured out that I had an ectopic pregnancy, and I needed emergency surgery because my life was in danger.

When I woke up from surgery, doctors confirmed that there had been a baby in my fallopian tube which ruptured, and therefore, I had had a miscarriage. (Babies in ectopic pregnancies cannot survive.) I was also told that, unfortunately, there had been other damage caused by the rupture, and, as a result, we would not be able to have any more biological children. While this news was very difficult, we ultimately were at peace knowing that it is likely that we will meet our son or daughter in heaven someday, when we will all be home with our Heavenly Father.

My husband and I had often talked about the possibility of fostering or adopting children, so both of us believed that God was confirming this plan for our family. In the following months, we began the process of becoming licensed for foster care, including taking classes from a local foster care provider. Eventually, we became licensed to foster a boy or girl between the ages of newborn and five.

Finally, after much anticipation by our family, including our daughters who were now eight and six years old, we received a phone call from the foster care agency in July 2013, letting us know that there was an eight-month-old baby girl who needed a home! They asked if we would be interested in fostering her. Without hesitation, we said, “Yes!” My husband and I drove to the agency where we saw Nazarene sleeping peacefully in a crib. I could not help but pick her up and hold her, knowing that she had had an extremely difficult, stressful night.

Over the coming months, our family bonded with Nazarene, and she became a part of our family. We also knew that the goal of foster care is to return children to their biological parents. Keeping that in mind, there were many emotions for everyone — not knowing how long she would stay with us. My husband and I attended every court hearing, and over time, it became clear to the judge that Nazarene would need to be placed into an adoptive home. While we were excited about the possibility of finally adopting her, it is hard to describe the heartbreak we felt for her birth mom. She loved Nazarene with all of her heart but was unable to raise her. Knowing this, we immediately informed her that we wanted to maintain a relationship with her.

Finally, in January 2016, when Nazarene Faith was three years old, the adoption was complete, and our family became a family of five! Nazarene is now 11 years old, and we continue to see her birth mom two to three times a year, doing fun things like going to zoos, museums, and ballgames. We all look forward to these get-togethers and are all blessed by them.

While this is our immediate family’s experience with adoption, several families in our extended family have also experienced the joys of adoption! Each of these families have amazing stories that reveal how God worked miracles, leading these children to become part of their families. We truly cannot imagine our extended family without them.

This week, as we spend time together over our Thanksgiving meal, we will thank God first of all for adopting us into His family, and secondly, we will thank him for giving us the opportunity to adopt each of these precious children into our extended family.

May God bless your family this Thanksgiving weekend.