Wednesday morning we woke up much like any Wednesday morning, coffee in hand, my little munchkin running around full of energy before even reaching 8am! I checked my email and was greeted by the most life-altering message I've ever gotten.
"Please give me a call if you would be interested in a Hispanic boy due any day in Wichita."
So what would you do? How would you respond? My brain responded with "this has got to be a scam. Who sends an email like this at 12:34am?". My heart responded "Yes why in the world would we not be interested." If any of you are familiar with domestic adoption, you know the risks that are always involved. There is ALWAYS risk of things dissolving, until paperworks is final. So I did what any good wife would do...I asked my husband what he thought! :) We both decided it wouldn't hurt to call. So I called! :) (by the way, this email was from an adoption agency our cousins had recommended back over the summer but we'd decided to pursue fostering instead, so yes it was a legit source!)
That phone call changed our lives forever. And when I mean forever, I mean our lives will never be the same again. But hold on to your socks before you pick up that phone to call and ask why you're only hearing about this now. :)
Here's how the next 36 hours went:
Wednesday:
9:12am: Left message for social worker who emailed us.
10:15am: social worker called and said yes that indeed there was a baby needing a home. A baby boy due literally any day. Birthmother thought she was in labor the night before and hadn't picked an adoptive couple, thus the 12:30am email to us. She gave me the background on birth mother and the run down of what an expedited home study would look like, and all they needed from us to proceed, including a very large amount of money that last adoption we had a year to raise!
1:30pm: (I had a play date and couldn't call before this time!) I called Cheyenne to give him the run down and see what he thought. Initially our first thoughts were "there's no way we can come up with the money in that time frame". In Kansas adoption are finalized in 30-60 days and all fees are due by that time. (much prayer started at this point and trusting God for the process)
2pm: Called social worker back to see what info she needed from us in order to see if the birth mother was even interested.
2:30 pm: Cheyenne called our Pastor to see what possibilities of fundraising in the short 1 week we most likely had. Our Pastor was beyond excited and so supportive of us pursuing this opportunity.
3pm: I called the social worker to say yes we were 100% desiring to pursue the adoption of this baby boy.
4:30pm: Social worker called me to say that the birth parents had chosen us! We were going to have a son! Karis was going to be a big sister! This also prompted phone calls to family to share our news and ask for MAJOR prayers! Both my sister in laws offered to put together baby boy items for us!
5pm: Cheyenne came home from work and we rejoiced and praised the Lord!
That evening Cheyenne went to hear his brother preach at a local church and Karis and I went through our boxes of baby items and pulled out blanket, cloth diapers, and what few gender nurtral items we had! I set the pack n play up, and threw a load of baby stuff in the wash! (no, I wasn't one bit excited right??!!)
Thursday:
8am: Pastor called Cheyenne to say that the church wanted to help with anything we needed and wanted to walk through this with us! What an answer to prayer!!!!
Most of the morning I spent researching adoption grants that we'd applied for with Karis' adoption, and gathering all the info we needed to apply.
11:30am: Cheyenne, Karis, Dad & I went out to a celebratory/valentines day lunch
1pm: Karis and I did a quick trip to the store to grab a package of newborn diapers & a immidiate items.
1:45: got a voicemail from our agency that "new developments" had arisen and to call back
3:06pm: Finally connected with agency's lawyer to shared that the birthmother wasn't being honest. She was trying to double dip to get extra money from two agencies. Apparently another couple had already been matched with her weeks ago (possibly months) and had been paying her living expenses. When she asked for more upfront, she was told she'd have to wait till after the baby was born for it to be part of her expenses. So she took off and then contacted our agency when she thought she was in labor Tuesday night. Thankfully the lawyer that is part of our agency put out feelers to other agencies to see if she'd possibly been working with anyone else and that's how this was all discoverd. Long story short, the other adoptive family contacted the birthmother and worked something out so she's going back to them. Sadly this birthmother has many personal issues, and was thinking of herself and not this tiny baby.
4pm: officially not having a baby boy.
Spent the evening praying and trusting God in the midst of disappointment.
What we've learned:
*We are surrounded by an AMAZING community and church who jumped on board right away to help wherever they could!
*We have AMAZING family who was beyond excited and supportive
*God simply asks us to OBEY.
*When we walk in FAITH
What will we do now? We'll continue to be open to whatever God has for us! If that means another possible adoption, we are willing. If that means continuing with foster care, we are willing. God has simply called us to be available to whatever He has for us! If that means walking through another failed adoption, we know God has His purpose in it. Maybe there's another couple out there we will meet that will be going through something similar that now we can encourage them through.
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