Adoption Story: Justin + Stephanie

We are so excited to share another beautiful adoption story with you this evening. No adoption story is alike, but there is a common thread woven through each of them: unconditional love.

One night Stephanie texted me a voice recording of one of her sweet boys praying for a baby sister. It was at a point in their journey that they weren’t sure how, or even if, God would answer their prayers. Today Stephanie shares the details of how God brought a daughter (and a little sister) into their family. And how it was nothing short of miraculous.

Our family truly believes in God has a plan for us and we just have to keep praying and have faith!

When I was finishing college, I had to have a new and rare procedure done that came with a lot of unknowns of long-term outcomes. When I met my husband, Justin, we had the conversation early on that if we were unable to have children biologically, we would adopt. After we were married, we met with my medical team and the high risk OBGYN’s, discussed the option of pregnancy, and decided to move forward. We were able to get pregnant, and after a fairly rough pregnancy, we welcomed our son Cameron five weeks early unexpectedly when my placenta detached. Wanting more than one child, we asked about trying again. With our medical teams support and another rough pregnancy, we welcomed our second son Ethan three weeks early.

We were advised that trying again would not be good for my health, but we still felt our family wasn’t complete. Justin and I talked about adopting from time to time after that, and occasionally Cameron would ask when he was going to get a baby sister. We started looking into state agencies in May of 2019, but they didn’t feel like the right fit. We were referred to Christian Adoption Consultants in January of 2020. We reached out and were connected with Susan and she helped us start the process of getting our profile built and our home study completed. We were home study approved by mid-March!

We had talked to the boys about our plans to adopt and they joined us in praying for a baby to join our family. They started every night praying the sweetest prayer: “Dear God, please send us baby sister. We will love her, take care of her, and play with her. Amen!” We went through the Spring and Summer with only a few situations that we presented to and were not selected. But our boys kept praying that same prayer every night – they wouldn’t let us forget! We kept praying…

Then shortly after that day everything changed. I received an email from an attorney with details about a mama who wanted to make an adoption plan for her seven week old baby girl. Just 24 hours later, we found ourselves on a phone call that would change our lives. After introductions and some important questions, this mama said “I want you guys to have her, can you come pick her up tonight?” I remember just sitting there in disbelief and clenching my husband’s hand as we said “yes if we can!” What followed was like a whirlwind as arrangements were made and within an hour we were on the road in the dark and rain to drive an hour and pick up this baby who would become our daughter later that night.

That evening began a beautiful relationship with our daughter’s birth mom. We’ve been told the events that led up to our daughter’s adoption are incredibly rare, and we have no doubt God was in so many details. We’re sure He put us on the path for Aspen to join our family!

She is the perfect addition to our family! She is such a good baby and her brothers are in love with her. We captured the boys on video coming down the stairs the morning after we brought her home and their smiles and pure joy was amazing. Our oldest said, “We prayed for you!” as he kissed her and patted her head. Truer words have never been spoken!