If you feel out of the loop with this whole adoption story you are not alone. It seriously happened so fast that a lot of people still didn't know that we had started the process before bringing a baby home. It was a whirlwind of a story and seems like it was the fastest adoption in history, but the timing is all God so who are we to complain.
It started in November. We had started talking seriously about adoption shortly after Hawkins started sleeping through the night. (I guess we're just suckers for punishment.) I had decided to do a 40 day fast which ended up being one of the hardest fasts I have done. During that time I was trying to hard to focus on my faith and my devotional time but with both kids still being pretty small it wasn't as easy as I had hoped. Although, through out the fast my thoughts kept coming back to our family and our decision on our adoption. It wasn't so much should we adopt but when.
We knew that just to start the paperwork we would need about $600. Which we didn't exactly have lying around. So we just kept waiting, knowing God would provide when the time came. Shortly after finishing the fast my grandmother informs me that she was cashing out an investment she had in my name so I received a lump of cash. You guessed it! $600!
So by January we knew it was time to start but with who? He didn't have an agency or anything. We had finally decided that a domestic adoption was going to be the best for us but there was still so many agencies to choose from. We thought we had decided on a large agency and even had a phone interview to see how we'd like them. Then we went to small group.
Our small group had just started that same week and it turns out there was a couple in our group who were going through the adoption process as well. What are the chances? They told us about the agency that did their home study and how impressed they were with them. We took their number not really thinking anything of it.
They were everything we thought we didn't want. They were small, they were local, they only took so many families. We really didn't think we would like them. But we called because if nothing else they were the least expensive agency to do a home study. So that same night we called and they answered and next thing we knew we had an agency! Hope for Families was our agency of choice. Sure it was the complete opposite of what we wanted but just like everything else, God had a different plan.
So early February we were sitting down for our home study then it was a mad dash to get all our paperwork submitted and then we just sat on our hands till our home study was approved by the courts. We weren't thinking we wouldn't have any real match potential until the new year. And even at a year that would be a quick adoption process.
In March we were approved and were legally allowed to be matched with perspective birth mothers. We had a couple of matches that we had to turn down either because we couldn't afford birth mother expenses or because we just didn't feel comfortable with the match.
I was fortunate enough to befriend another couple that had done the adoption process twice already and they gave me some great advice. They told me that just like falling in love, when you know, you know. When the child God wants you to have comes up there will be no way to keep you from them. As crazy as it sounds, they were right!
April 27th, only three months after sitting down for our home study we get a phone call at 9:30 at night from our agency. They want to know if we would be willing to be matched with a potential birth mother. Sure, why not! The baby is 13 months old. Oh, ok. No problem. There's not guarantee that the mother would pick us anyway.
The next morning we are doing a conference call with the birth mother and our agency. During our conversation the birth mother asks us if we would be willing to adopt her baby. Um, yes! Of course! We are all for that! Twenty minutes later we are driving out to fort pierce to do a face to face meeting. Needless to say we liked each other immediately. We had a lot of the same views for how we wanted to raise Arya and she wanted to have a closed adoption for her daughters sake and she just loved how much the kids really took to the new baby.
So from Saturday afternoon till Monday morning Scarlett did not stop asking about her baby sister. My biggest concern at that point was that something was going to to go wrong and I'd have to explain to Scarlett why she couldn't take her baby sister home. Ugh, that would be devastating.
But Monday the 30th comes and we drive out to the agencies office and sure enough Arya is there with her mom, we sign papers and next thing we know we are walking out of the building not even an hour later as a family of five... A family of five with a black baby. It was the strangest feeling to be buckling in three children into three carseats.
So that is the long and short of it. I guess it's mostly short. It's been a month and Arya has adjusted beautifully. She loves her siblings, she loves kisses, she loves to sing, and she loves sushi. There is no doubt in my mind that she is the child that God has ordained for us. I couldn't feel more confident then if I can birthed her myself. I am so grateful for such a joyous and happy baby. She has brought so much laughter into our family and our home.
My son on the other hand...
Antenella
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