Due to the growing curiosity surrounding our recent announcement of adoption, I decided the best way to explain our progress would be through a blog. I have never done this before and I am sure there will be significant grammatical errors that I ask you please choose to ignore :). With that being said, here is the beginning of our story.
As a child I remember going to visit this beautiful blond girl with my mom in hopes my parents would adopt her. She was adorable. I don’t remember much about her or the circumstances surrounding the visit, however the result was not a second baby sister, but, instead a planted seed of adoption in me that would soon sprout out of control.
Years later, after I re-committed my life to following Christ in an authentic relationship with Him, the desire to adopt grew stronger with each passing moment. This presented a huge problem for me as I was not married or dating at the time. I wondered how this desire could be brought to life and soon found myself focusing on other aspects of my life. It wasn’t long before the plan for my life started to unfold. I reunited with a high school friend after 15 years through Facebook. After the second phone call I knew he would be the man I would marry (although it took him a little while longer to figure it out). Before getting married I talked with Andy about my desire to adopt. I am not sure he had ever thought he would adopt but as we discussed it, he was completely open to the idea. His eyes filled with tears just thinking about loving a child that would otherwise be unloved. His heart was more than open, it was craving the same desire that was birthed in me.
On November 10, 2012 we were married. In March of 2013, I was told, due to an abnormality in my reproductive system, that it would be a struggle to get pregnant. It was a hard reality to face. Andy and I continued to try to get pregnant, obviously without much success. We soon started more fertility testing on us both. The results were even more discouraging. Without miraculous or scientific intervention, we are unable to have a baby of our own flesh. I cannot begin to describe the level of grief this news brought to us both. It. Was. Hard.
As we moved on from grieving we decided to begin the adoption process that we had planned to begin after having one of our own. I heard a story of an interpreter friend adopting a baby boy from a ministry in Nashville, TN. I was so intrigued by the story that I started doing some investigating of my own. Mercy Ministries caters to girls ages 13-28 by helping them transform their lives from addictions, abuse, mental illness, etc in order to give them hope for a bright future. Within this ministry, they also have an adoption program. My heart has a shared connection to Mercy’s mission in transformation and stories of redemption. Andy and I discussed it, prayed over it and decided to pursue an adoption through Mercy. To learn more about Mercy Ministries, please click on the link below.
We are working on the application for Mercy and have almost completed the application for the home study. We are currently waiting on the background check results in order to complete the final portion of the home study application. Once that returns we will be able to set up an appointment for a social worker to come to inspect our home for the pre-placement requirements. Our church, Forest Hill Church, has graciously given us a grant that will cover the cost of the home study (see link below). We are beyond grateful for the generosity of those in the church with a heart to care for orphans of the world.
This is where we are at the moment, waiting, once again. Please continue to pray for Andy and I through this process. We are beyond grateful for friends and family that have been in our corner since day one.
As a child I remember going to visit this beautiful blond girl with my mom in hopes my parents would adopt her. She was adorable. I don’t remember much about her or the circumstances surrounding the visit, however the result was not a second baby sister, but, instead a planted seed of adoption in me that would soon sprout out of control.
Years later, after I re-committed my life to following Christ in an authentic relationship with Him, the desire to adopt grew stronger with each passing moment. This presented a huge problem for me as I was not married or dating at the time. I wondered how this desire could be brought to life and soon found myself focusing on other aspects of my life. It wasn’t long before the plan for my life started to unfold. I reunited with a high school friend after 15 years through Facebook. After the second phone call I knew he would be the man I would marry (although it took him a little while longer to figure it out). Before getting married I talked with Andy about my desire to adopt. I am not sure he had ever thought he would adopt but as we discussed it, he was completely open to the idea. His eyes filled with tears just thinking about loving a child that would otherwise be unloved. His heart was more than open, it was craving the same desire that was birthed in me.
On November 10, 2012 we were married. In March of 2013, I was told, due to an abnormality in my reproductive system, that it would be a struggle to get pregnant. It was a hard reality to face. Andy and I continued to try to get pregnant, obviously without much success. We soon started more fertility testing on us both. The results were even more discouraging. Without miraculous or scientific intervention, we are unable to have a baby of our own flesh. I cannot begin to describe the level of grief this news brought to us both. It. Was. Hard.
As we moved on from grieving we decided to begin the adoption process that we had planned to begin after having one of our own. I heard a story of an interpreter friend adopting a baby boy from a ministry in Nashville, TN. I was so intrigued by the story that I started doing some investigating of my own. Mercy Ministries caters to girls ages 13-28 by helping them transform their lives from addictions, abuse, mental illness, etc in order to give them hope for a bright future. Within this ministry, they also have an adoption program. My heart has a shared connection to Mercy’s mission in transformation and stories of redemption. Andy and I discussed it, prayed over it and decided to pursue an adoption through Mercy. To learn more about Mercy Ministries, please click on the link below.
We are working on the application for Mercy and have almost completed the application for the home study. We are currently waiting on the background check results in order to complete the final portion of the home study application. Once that returns we will be able to set up an appointment for a social worker to come to inspect our home for the pre-placement requirements. Our church, Forest Hill Church, has graciously given us a grant that will cover the cost of the home study (see link below). We are beyond grateful for the generosity of those in the church with a heart to care for orphans of the world.
This is where we are at the moment, waiting, once again. Please continue to pray for Andy and I through this process. We are beyond grateful for friends and family that have been in our corner since day one.
http://www.mercyministries.org/
http://www.foresthill.org/outreach/justice/orphans.html