(Thank you to Brooke for today’s guest post!)

When I was a little girl I use to line up my Cabbage Patch dolls on my bed and play “adoption.” I would pick out which doll I wanted to adopt and then we would have a tea party… or some other celebratory “Happy Adoption Day” activity.  I can’t, for the life of me, remember what sparked my interest in adoption as a six year old… maybe my love for the musical Annie?  OR maybe God was forming my heart, even at such a young age, to understand HIS heart for adoption.  Of course now I understand that it is much more complicated and much more BEAUTIFUL than simply picking out a doll and having a tea party.

Here is our story:
My husband and I had “the talk” on our way back home after meeting our niece Grace for the first time.  We were pretty smitten by her and I had suddenly caught the “baby bug” in a BIG way!  The seven-hour trip back to Kansas from Texas flew by as we talked about our dream of having a family and my heart for adoption.  Both of us felt pretty sure that we would adopt “someday“ and were even open to the idea of adopting our first child.  Within the week I visited the local pregnancy crisis center to get information about adoption.  In the mean time we started “trying” (blush) to get pregnant.

Fast Forward one year… no pregnancy.  Both my husband and I had fertility issues; apparently we were not a match made in fertility heaven.  We were told that IVF was the only option left for us to get pregnant.  I was suddenly consumed with the “I’m going to have a baby dang-it” attitude. I had a SEVERE case of baby makin’ tunnel vision. Our first IVF procedure resulted in a pregnancy with twins that sadly ended in a miscarriage.  We were heart broken. About this time I started praying a specific “baby prayer”:

“God, I trust You… however YOU want to put our family together I am fine with… just give me the patience to wait on YOUR plan and YOUR timing.”

About six months after the miscarriage we were told about a 16-year-old girl who was placing her baby up for adoption.  We got to work!  We did our home study, our background checks, out adoption profile… we were so hopeful!

The birth mom chose another couple: tears.

A few months later a friend told us about another birth mom who was looking for an adoptive family for her baby.  She had already signed a contract with an adoption agency in town so we quickly contacted the agency and put all of our information in with them so that this birth mother could see our profile.

The birth mom chose another couple: more tears.

In the meantime we made an appointment with our fertility doctor for our final round of IVF.  This was it: no more shots, no more pills and patches, no more hot flashes and mood swings… this was our last round of fertility anything. I was still praying my “baby prayer” and it seemed as if God was truly increasing my faith that He had a beautiful plan for our family.

Ten days after our procedure we had a positive pregnancy test: TEARS!

Fast Forward two months. My husband and I are in Florida on vacation. I have a new voice-mail:

“Hi Brooke, this is Adoption Connect and we need to talk with you about an adoption.  We have a birth mother who is looking for a family just like you guys… give us a call.”

Shock.

After sharing with the agency about my pregnancy they told me that they would talk with the birthmother to find out if she still wanted us to adopt her baby.  In the meantime we needed to decide if we were going to adopt this baby.  We didn’t think the birth mother would be “cool” with us being pregnant, but just in case she was, we needed to have a decision made.

We prayed… like A LOT! We sought wisdom from our parents and our church family.  We were so confused and scared, until a friend reminded me of what I had been praying for the past year and a half: “God, I trust You, however YOU want to put our family together I a fine with… just give me the patience to wait on YOUR plan and YOUR timing.”

Tears.

We knew that God had been preparing us for this. That if this birthmother choose us, we were all in… 100%!

The birth mom chose our family… many, many tears!

Five and a half months into my pregnancy I was standing in the delivery room watching my daughter come into the world. It was amazing… simply amazing! Amazing to look back and see how God used the “almost adoptions” to lead us to our daughter Quinn. HIS plan is truly perfect.

Quinn turns one next month.  She is a happy, laid back, joyful little girl… AND she is a terrific big sister to Clara, just four months younger. Quinn is the littlest big sister you have ever seen!

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(For those wondering, this is another open adoption. Brooke says, “We have written letters, sent pics, and talked on the phone a few times. Our birth mom is pretty incredible and are BLESSED to have a relationship with her!!”  Follow along with Brooke and her family at her blog, B in Real Life.)