You met Paul and Katie back in 2014 when they adopted their daughter. And I was more than thrilled when they connected with me just a few weeks ago about starting the process again (admittedly the only thing I love more than walking a family through their adoption is getting to do it again!) It’s rare that we get to hear an adoptive story from the adoptive father. I love that today Paul retells how their son came to their family.
When we adopted our daughter 18 months ago, we thought that some day we would adopt again. Well, that someday arrived in January and we started talking about it, contemplating and dreaming. Sometime in January we determined we were ready to start the process – so we did what we know works: hire Susan, start the home study process and get new family pictures in order to be able to create a new profile. We sat talking about what the timing might look like; heck, if it were to be anything like the first time, we thought maybe we could have a baby by the Fall.
Then it happened…the home study was done on a?Friday?and a baby boy was born in Florida the following day. Yikes! Are we supposed to explore this opportunity? I mean, it’s one day into the process and there’s a baby that could be ours?
So we talked about it, prayed about it and decided to walk through the door that it appeared God had opened to us.On Thursday, the birth mother saw our profile and asked to talk to us the following day. By?Monday, the birth mother had chosen us and we started packing our bags.
We knew that a NICU stay was part of the deal and we did our best to prepare ourselves for it, not having a clue what it would be like. When we arrived at the hospital, we saw the most beautiful thing in what was admittedly a tough situation…there was our baby, being cared for and loved by a staff of nurses who treated him as if he were their own. Despite the fact that he had been “alone” in a NICU environment for nearly 10 days, we saw how God had been at work. He surrounded this little boy with wonderful, loving people to be his family.
After a week of visiting him every day, we finally got to take him to the hotel. Then another odd thing happened that we were not remotely prepared for: within an hour of leaving the hospital, we got a call from ICPC (Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children) and were told we were clear to go home. Seriously? The whole ICPC process only began 3 days ago…how could this be?
So anyway, that’s our story…what we were prepared to wait for was beautifully dropped in our lap. We see God’s handwriting all over it and it’s amazing.
When God says, “Not right now”
Adoption Story: Dave + Gwen