When people discover I’m an adoption consultant I’m met with a lot of questions. Most of them are pretty understandable! Before entering the adoption process years ago, I’m not sure if I knew what role an adoption consultant played. The short answer is that I help guide families through the adoption process from the very beginning to the very end of their journey. The really cool part about my job is that most of my families still keep in touch with me after they bring their child home and are always so kind to share pictures and updates!
I have the added bonus of getting a front row seat in watching God’s beautiful story unfold for amazing couples, like Joe and Gretchen. I remember the first time I spoke with Gretchen on the phone. She was so very personable and we clicked instantly. Like many couples after you are met with more than a few “no’s” it is common to get discouraged and feel like God has forgotten about you. But their faith, vulnerability, and perseverance throughout this entire process was so inspiring. Joe and Gretchen, it was an honor to assist you in your journey to your beautiful baby girl and I’m so grateful to call you both friends.
“God’s way is the best way”, a saying that we believed, but did not fully understand until we started our adoption journey. This year we will be married for 20 years and we have struggled with infertility the entire time. Adoption has always been an option, but God never opened the doors until January of 2018. After we completed our home study, we reached out to Christian Adoption Consultants. When we called we were connected with Kelly Todd. After talking with her we knew we wanted to move forward with CAC. We had a connection with Kelly, as she was so very nice and informative about the entire adoption process.
It was a long, emotional journey, but our adoption consultant, Kelly, helped us every step of the way. She always knew exactly what to say to be an encouragement to us when we needed it most. We presented numerous times before we were chosen. We prayed about each situation we presented to. We prayed for the expectant mother and her baby and most times we felt like “this would be the one,” but they weren’t. We were hit with many hard “no’s.” That was the most difficult thing to process. It was as if we had a miscarriage every time we heard that word “no.” It was very painful, but we trusted that God had a different plan. It was difficult to wait and be patient, but God knew we needed that time to cry and mourn, and He never once left our side throughout the entire journey.
One morning we received multiple situations. Initially, after reading through them, we did not have peace about moving forward. We both headed to work, but one of the expectant mothers kept coming to my (Gretchen) mind. I looked at the situation another time and showed my husband, Joe, over his lunch break. We decided to present our profile because we felt like God was leading us to. Having heard “no” numerous times, we tried to guard our hearts while we waited on the expectant mother to decide. It was about a week and a half when we got a phone call. I was working so I did not answer, but later, I listened to the message. It was a call from the agency asking us to call them immediately! We were so nervous. What could they be calling about? I called the agency back. They were calling to tell us that she had chosen to move forward with our family! We were ecstatic! God had answered our prayers. I couldn’t wait to get off the phone to tell Kelly and she celebrated with us too!
Baby girl wasn’t due for quite awhile so this meant more waiting! We both had an overwhelming sense of peace from God during throughout this season and He helped us tremendously. During this time we were planning for the trip, which was over 1,500 miles away. After much prayer and talking to our social worker, we decided that driving would be the best option for us. We never had peace from the Lord that we were to fly. Again, God’s way is the best way. Little did we know at the time of planning that Covid-19 would take over and make it more difficult to fly. March 17, 2020 we got the call letting us know that she was in labor and we needed to start traveling immediately! We drove 24 hours straight to get there. I know 24 hours straight sounds like a lot to some people, but it was such an easy and smooth drive, with no traffic! Again, an answered prayer from the Lord!
When we got to the hospital we had room next door to the birth parents and we got to see our baby girl. When we held our baby girl it’s as if all of the “no’s” and pain from before drifted away. We smiled when we noticed her beautiful red hair, just like Joe’s. God’s “yes” for our family was so much better than anything we could have dreamt up ourselves.
Before we left the hospital with our daughter, we met with her birth parents again. It was a sweet time of good conversion and connection – one that will last a lifetime. We are forever grateful for our daughter’s birth parents and how they have entrusted us with such a big piece of their heart. We plan to honor them always in our home and in our hearts.
Now we are back home and enjoying every minute with our daughter. All the things that caused us concerns about adoption, we gave them to the Lord, and He took care of everything. Not one thing that we were worried about needed to be worried about because God took care of it all! The best advice we can give to couples is give it to the Lord and trust Him. Easier said than done, but it will be the best thing you can do during this process. His way is the best way. He sees the bigger picture-just be patient and trust the Lord. Proverbs 3:5-6
***If you are interested in learning more about adoption and the services we provide at Christian Adoption Consultants, I would love to chat! Feel free to email me at kelly@christianadoptionconsultants.com and check out Christian Adoption Consultants for more information!***
+Caroline and Keith+
