Our Two Little Miracles

“But these things I plan won’t happen right away. Slowly, steadily, surely, the time approaches when the vision will be fulfilled. If it seems slow, be patient! For it will surely take place. It will not be late by a single day.” Habakkuk 2:3

Pat and I were married in December 2002. I was married before and had struggled with infertility for about four years so Pat and I figured we would have problems conceiving. After about 6 months we decided to seek medical help in hopes to conceive.

In the Fall of 2003 I had surgery. I’ve had a history of ovarian cysts and have had previous surgeries for this and so had alot of scar tissue on my ovaries. Otherwise the doctors couldn’t determine any other reason for not getting pregnant. In the Fall of 2004 I had another surgery, this being my 4th so far. We were never led to pursue IVF. I’m not sure why. I just always felt that if we couldn’t conceive naturally I would rather spend the money on an adoption.

In the Spring of 2005 we decided to talk more seriously about adoption. At this time Pat had a 14 year old daughter and a 16 year old son. Even though we were trying to conceive, the process of adoption made him think hard about whether or not he really wanted to start over and have more kids. Unfortunately he wasn’t sure he really wanted to have more kids. This became a constant struggle for us and my heart was broken to think that I’d never be a mom.

In June of 2005 we were still talking about adoption and researching adoption agencies. My sister called one night and said she knew of a little boy that needed a home. Omar was 1 year old and his mom and my sister had just met. His mom was struggling with addictions and had asked my sister to take him. My sister wasn’t able to care for him though either so that night we went over to my sister’s house and picked Omar up. We had absolutely nothing for a little 1 year old but friends from work and church helped us out. We eventually communicated with Omar’s mom and she was considering adoption. We loved Omar so much and we prayed that we could be his forever family. But regardless of what happened we felt the Lord directing us to care for Omar as long as he needed a family.

We had Omar for one year. During that year we continued to communicate with his mom, going back and forth about adoption.  She eventually moved 800 miles away to a half way house and was able to get clean and healthy.   We were very close with Omar’s grandparents as they lived in the same town and they too struggled with Omar going back to his mother or staying with us.  We all eventually came to realize that God’s will was for him to go back to her.  At the end of May 2006, almost exactly one year since he came to our home we drove Omar 800 miles to his mom. It was one of the hardest things we’ve ever had to endure.

God is good and has allowed us to remain close to Omar, his mom and his grandparents. We are Omar’s God-parents and we get to see him and his family often. Although it was hard we are so thankful that God brought them into our life.  A huge blessing that came out of this experience was having Omar caused Pat to realize that he did want to have more kids. Praise God!

We were ready to dive into adoption. I was going to be a mom! Well, God had other plans. I sensed God telling us to wait one year before moving forward with adoption.  I remember sensing this but I didn’t want to admit it. I layed on my bed one night crying. I prayed and asked Gd to make it very clear that this was His will. I went out into the living room and asked Pat what he thought we should do about adoption. And he said, “I think we should wait a year.”  What!  I broke down crying. Not because I was devastated but because I had such peace knowing that this was in fact God’s will.

In June of 2007 we started the adoption process through CWA, Ethiopia. I had always been drawn to international adoption. We were praying for two children, at least one infant, preferably twins.

In August of 2007 we again sensed God telling us to wait to adopt, specifically to wait to adopt through Ethiopia.  Even though we had already paid $2500 to this agency we had such a strong sense that we should not move forward.  I was devastated because I thought this was His will and that finally Pat and I would have kids together.  God didn’t share any specifics about why or what agency we should use so we tried to trust and withdrew our name from the agency.

In September of 2007 we were contacted by a friend that told us that a family had heard about us and their teenage daughter was pregnant. With twins! A boy and a girl. She had chosen us to adopt her babies. We were so excited and thought this was why God had directed us to wait to adopt through Ethiopia.  When the twins were born at the end of September we were told that the family had changed their mind. The birth father and family preferred a bi-racial family since the babies were bi-racial. We went through intense mourning and then two days later received a call that they had changed their mind and were considering us again!  We thought this was an answer to our pleas to God. It wasn’t meant to be though as we received word a few days later that they had decided to go with the original family. We did learn that the birth mom wanted us to have her babies but the rest of the family and birth father did not. Again, we were devastated. Words can’t really describe our pain at this point but we continued to try to trust in God’s perfect timing.

In October 2007 we moved forward with another agency. A friend of mine was a social worker and she had given me her card shortly after O had went back to his mom. I had told her at the time we were waiting but would consider her agency when we felt God leading us to adopt.  We trusted this friend greatly and in October when we researched their company both Pat and I felt complete peace. 

We also sensed God directing us towards domestic adoption of an infant. I struggled with this at first… wanting an infant…but came to peace about. I wanted to experience being a mom from as early in the child’s life as possible – at least with our first – and was finally able to convince myself there was nothing wrong with that. We completed orientation with this new agency and started our home study process.

On November 26th, 2007 we finished our home study.  We prepared ourselves for the wait that would probably be at least a year. 

On December 7th, 2007 (a week and 1/2 later!) we recieved an email from our agency regarding a 5 week old little girl named Angel. She had been in foster care since birth. She was considered a “high risk” baby because of her birth mom’s history. 

That day and the next day Pat and I prayed and prayed and talked and prayed some more. My heart had said “yes” when I first heard about her although Pat had some concerns because she was “high risk”. I kept my mouth shut and prayed (which might be a bit unusual). Pat said “yes” on December 8th. He said God told him, “Why not this baby?” and on December 9th we called our social worker. She couldn’t get in touch with the baby’s social worker so we assumed that she was ours but still hadn’t heard for sure.  Late on December 9th we received the call we’d been waiting for. Angel was ours!

This entire time of looking into adoption, Princess (Pat’s daughter) struggled a little with having another sibling in the house. She asked her dad if just she could be “Princess”. It was so sweet and we knew that she would indeed always be our Princess.  So when the email came to use about “Angel” I started crying because it was something so simple and almost silly, but God knew the desires of our heart. We already had a Princess, now He was giving us an Angel.

On December 14th, 2007 we drove four hours to meet Angel for the first time. It was so amazing! We were able to spend an entire weekend with her at a hotel. Unfortunately because she had been in foster care for 5 weeks our agency required her to stay with that family until her paperwork was final.

December 17th, 2007 was the court hearing in which Angel’s biological parental rights were terminated and we were declared Angel’s parents! Now we just had to wait for the interstate compact. She is in a different state so we can’t bring her home until the approval goes through her state and our state. It’s Christmas season and there is new staff in her state’s office. Our social worker tries to be encouraging but is also honest in telling us we probably won’t get to bring her home until after Christmas.

On December 20th, 2007 at 10:30 am I had just got my hair cut and colored and our social worker calls my cell phone. We get to go get our baby! I about fainted right there in the salon.  The next day, December 21st, 2007, we drive the four hours to pick up our Angel. It’s a Christmas miracle in so many ways and we praise God for His many blessings!

Here she is, our precious miracle Angel!

Three months old!

Eleven months old!

21 months!

We were so very blessed to have Angel home and you can’t imagine my joy as I’d finally become a mom. It was so awesome. We figured in a year or so we’d start the adoption process again for a 2nd child. Well, the Lord had other plans.

In April 2008 Angel was 6 months old and had been home for 4 months. I hadn’t been feeling well but just chalked it up to stress and honestly didn’t really think much of it.  On April 14th, 2008 I finally realized that I was 10 days late. 10 DAYS!!! Yikes. I’d never been more than 1 day late before. I think I counted and re-counted about 20 times. As soon as I got home from work I took a pregnancy test. I had a stock pile from all the years of trying to get pregnant. And it was positive!

Here’s what I posted on April 16th when we shared our news with the world.

And on December 17th, 2008 – exactly one year after Angel was legally our baby girl – Caleb, aka, Little Pip was born!

We couldn’t thank the Lord enough for His amazing blessings! Even now it’s almost too much to comprehend. We are so unworthy and pray we never take our two little miracles for granted!

You can read more about Little Pip’s journey here.

And here’s our 2nd miracle baby!

1 month old..

7 months old!