Redemption :: Part Two of Our Story {Adoption Awareness Month}

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Yesterday Shana shared the beginning of the journey that led her and her husband to adoption. Read Part 1 here

The Unexpected Call

I left you last with the knowledge that three years into walking our trial of infertility, we were given the gift of adoption. This is a tremendous story of redemption in our lives and one we will always treasure in our hearts. This is our story.

I was sitting at my station in the ER. I had just finished seeing a patient when my cell phone rang. I didn’t recognize the number, so I did not pick up. Then came a voicemail. “We have a baby available for adoption. If you’re still interested in adoption, please give me a call back.” I couldn’t breathe. In a split second, it’s as if something I innately knew how to do since birth had left me. My eyes welled up with tears and I immediately left my desk to find a solitary place where I could return the phone call. “Yes! We are still interested!” This is all I could mutter while the voice on the other end of the call gave me limited details … beautiful baby girl, two days old, being placed for adoption. I immediately called my husband and as soon as he answered, I said, “We’re going to be parents. God is giving us a baby. A beautiful baby girl!” His response in understandable disbelief was, “What?” Ha! Yes. Doesn’t everyone deliver exciting news as such? Simply … our prayers had been answered. God was giving us the gift of adoption.

A Whirlwind for the Record Books

I immediately pulled my boss into a back room and told him the news. Up until this point, I had been very private about our struggles with infertility and our desire to adopt. Within minutes, my dear boss not only heard the news that my husband and I were going to adopt, but he also had a very tearful employee on his hands to handle. He did beautifully. Within a few hours, all of my ER shifts for the next 12 weeks had been covered for a very spontaneous maternity leave. Friends dropped everything to bring donations of a crib, baby clothes, rockers, boppies, bottles, diapers, wipes, dinners, and so much more. We worked furiously to put together a make-shift nursery that night through moments of disbelief that this was really happening. Within 20 hours of finding out about our sweet baby girl, we were going to be bringing her home. 

The Next Morning

We felt it full well.  As a friend once said, “Adoption would be the sweetest gift to our whole family, but it would come at a steep price.” The only one I could think about that next morning was the birth mom. How much she was sacrificing, how much she was giving, how much she must love her baby girl. We believe birth moms are the true unsung heroes of adoption. Even now, I know that if I was ever given the chance to meet her face to face, I would become a puddle of tears at once and throw my arms around her neck and hold on tightly. I tear up thinking about it. I am hopeful that day will come. I want to tell her how brave she was, how strong she was, and how much I love her although I have never met her. Adoption is truly a story mingled with great love, great loss, and great hope. 

The First Meeting

I anxiously, but slowly, walked toward that hospital room the morning we would get to take our baby home. How do you meet your child for the first time in a room full of strangers? I wasn’t sure how I would respond or what I would do. Then, I stepped through the door and saw her. It was instant. I scooped her into my arms and sat down in a rocking chair and just stared into her tiny face, weeping over such a tremendous blessing. Oh, she was beautiful. And what a set of lungs! She was three days old and had been so graciously cared for by the best nursing staff ever. They called me her mama. And so I was. I couldn’t love this child more if I had given birth to her myself. God had already begun to knit our hearts together. 

A Story of Redemption

A child born to another woman calls me Mom. The depth of tragedy and magnitude of the privilege are not lost on me. – Jody Landers

This is our story. God took our broken hearts, and He healed them, binding up our wounds. He made everything beautiful in its time, writing a story that only He could write. When we could not see, He already knew. He has given to us a very tangible picture of what it means to be adopted into His family. Fully accepted. Fully loved. Fully His. In the same way, our daughter is fully accepted. Fully loved. Fully ours.