I will never forget the first time I talked on the phone with Micheal and Jaclyn. What ended up chatting for almost 2 hours and I just loved hearing their heart for adoption. We knew that Jesus wasn’t going to let their story be unfinished, and that night they said yes. It was such an honor walking with them through the journey to parenthood. And I’m even more blessed to call them friends! I was blown away as I witnessed their pure hearts, perseverance, love for Jesus, and faithfulness throughout the entire process! Their story has encouraged my heart so much and I know it will be an encouragement to you as well!
Adoption has been a core desire since before we were married. From working with an orphan community in Mexico combined with the fact that my husband was adopted, we have always known that adoption was going to be a part of our story.
The journey of building our family through adoption has been filled with challenges and road blocks. After pursuing an international adoption in Mexico for nearly a decade only to find ourselves at a dead end, we decided to pursue domestic adoption. At the end of April 2019 we hired Fallon, our incredible CAC consultant, filled out the paperwork and went through the process of completing our home study. Everything seemed to breeze by and in August we were matched with a baby girl due in the fall. We were elated. The process for the first time in our lives felt like it was just simply running
smoothly.
About 2 weeks before the baby was due to arrive we packed up our things and went to await her birth in San Antonio, TX. We were so excited, nervous, hope-filled, and terrified. However, just about a week before she was to be born something changed. The expecting mom who had chosen us decided to parent. Once again after all we had done and all we had been through we found ourselves with an all too familiar sense of disappointment and ultimately a failed adoption. We headed home with broken hearts and empty arms.
My husband wrote this a few days after we got home: “The truth is that we are broken. We have way more questions than we have answers. All we can say is BUT GOD. When we don’t understand, BUT GOD. When we are filled with sorrow and anger, BUT GOD. When we feel like maybe the God that we trust isn’t so trustworthy after all, BUT GOD. We still believe in His goodness. We still believe in His kindness. And we still believe that His plans are better than ours and when there is nowhere left to lean we lean in further to Him. I still don’t get it and that’s ok. Because what I do know is that the fruit of faithfulness is always greater than the pain of process.”
A few more months went by and we were filled with doubt as we had predetermined that if we were to present it would be a “no.” But through the pain and rawness of it all, we remained hopeful. Fast forward to the morning of February 10th, 2020. Micheal came into our bedroom and woke me up, “did you see the email? It was an email from the agency where we had had our failed adoption through.” It read: “Have you all had a placement? If not, I do have a situation that arose last night with a baby girl born on Saturday. Please call me if you would like more information.” We called the agency immediately. Was this our BUT GOD story? We got off the phone with the agency and called Fallon. The answer was a loud YES.
This was the start of the craziest 24 – 36 hours of our lives. In less than 2 hours later we were on our way to the airport on the first flight out to head back to San Antonio, a place we never thought we would step foot again. After a long day of travel we finally made it. The next morning we were at the agency’s office signing paperwork. We arrived at the hospital soon after and only a few moments later we held our sweet baby girl in our arms. The nurses brought us to a room where we would talk to a few doctors and social workers and by 1:00pm we were discharged from the hospital. With our beautiful daughter.
It has now been 2 months since we held miss Everly Brave in our arms for the first time and we remain awestruck at the Lord’s faithfulness. His ability to see through the pain of our deepest human desires and disappointments to the greater good that He had planned for us. This is our story of hope, faith and redemption. Hope that even in the midst of hard questions and uncertainty that God is still good and He holds us. Faith that what He has done for us and our baby girl that He will do again. The redemption in all the areas of our story no matter how big or small, God proved once again that the fruit of faithfulness is always greater than the pain of our process. Our lives have forever been changed.
***If you are interested in learning more about adoption and services we provide at Christian Adoption Consultants, I would love to chat! Feel free to email me, Fallon Palacios, at Fallon@christianadoptionconsultant.com and check out www.christianadoptionconsultants.com for more information!! ***
Originally posted on Fallon’s (CAC Adoption Consultant) blog.
Repost: 5 Myths of Open Adoption
Michelle’s adoption story