Adoption Stories

When I was just a young child my heart always went out to the children on the “Feed the Children” telethon. I was then exposed to foster parents in my young life and my heart went out to foster children as well. With these influences I knew one day I would help children. As I got older, I realized I wanted to be a foster parent and an adoptive parent at some point in my life.

My husband and I were foster parents first as we struggled for two years to become pregnant. We were blessed with three foster sons in 1997/1998. We still keep in contact with two of them. After having our daughter in 1998, we put foster care on hold and concentrated on our own child. We added a second biological child, a son, in 2001.

Even with our biological children, my heart still ached to help just one child, who out of no fault of his own, got a bum start on life. One day, while watching a new television show on TV called “Adoption Stories”, I felt the Lord was telling me the timing was right to start the adoption process. Not knowing the expenses that lay ahead we started with $1,200 dollars in the savings account.

As it turned out $1,200 dollars was what we needed for our homestudy. We began the homestudy in June of 2003. At this point we were very clear the Lord was leading us to a boy from Guatemala. In September 2003, we actually chose a 6 month old boy first from the Precious website and signed our agreement on him. As it turned out, this 6 month old had a grandmother who stepped up to the plate to take him home. We weren’t sad, we just knew we were meant to help two boys instead of just one.

So we began looking again on the Precious website and picked out 101G29 (our son!). He was born 8-28-2003. Although we really could have picked any child, there was just something about his newborn photo that caught my eye. He was so peaceful at rest. We signed the agreement and then the race began to get enough money. Although I can’t really explain how all the money became available, I can only say we kept taking a step of faith and the Lord continued to provide the money as each financial step occurred. By the time we were done, the Lord provided $27,000. Remember, we only started with $1,200.

October 2003 we had to pay half the attorney fees. It was really hard to send such a large sum of money overseas, and I prayed the Lord would give me peace about our decision. As it turned out, five minutes after I had the money on its way to Guatemala, our adoption worker called to update me on the process. We talked about all the money issues and she assured me the Guatemalan attorney was a reputable human being.

Then the agonizing wait began. One month, then two, three months, then four. Finally, Guatemala gave approval for our sons authentication fingerprinting which was a match to his biological mother by 99.9%. It was now February 2004 and the wait only got longer. My heart ached everyday to hold him. The pictures and video tape helped as I watched my son grow without my care. His foster family was wonderful to him, and I could tell he was receiving great physical and emotional care~ But I still ached to hold my son.

May 2004 I received a phone call that our adoption was complete and we would fly sometime in June. Anticipation mounted as the day approached! On June 14, 2004 I finally got to see and hold my son. Although I was anxious to see him, he was not so pleased to be with my husband and I. He cried for the first 24 hours non-stop. He would cry himself to sleep then wake up and cry again. I was not prepared for this rejection.

However, after the 24 hours of crying stopped, the bonding began. He was able to look at us without crying and actually smile. He became content in our arms and was happy to see us. Due to his strong willed personality and attachment needs, it took a good year for him to fully accept us as his family. I read once that it takes a year for an adopted child to get molded into his/her new family. I didn’t really believe that would be true of an infant until going through the experience. It is very true! The first year of bonding is critical regardless at what age you adopt your child.

Now he is a content 3 1/2 year old boy, still strong willed, but a joy to parent and have as a forever son!