OUR ADOPTION STORY ~ fifteen years later! (Part One)

Daughter #2 just got her driver’s permit! I cannot believe she’s old enough to drive. Where has the time gone??

While preparing all the forms I needed to bring to the DMV for her to take her permit test, I found all of her adoption papers, naturalization papers, birth certificate, and home study forms. The memories started flooding back. All the feels were swimming around in my chest and I’m pretty sure I cried a little bit!

We have an adoption blog that we started during the adoption process 15 years ago for the sole purpose of being able to communicate with our four boys while they were home and we were out of country in Kazakhstan for five weeks. Let me tell you, THE. LONGEST. FIVE. WEEKS. OF. MY. LIFE.

We haven’t posted on that blog for over ten years so I thought I’d share our adoption story here for you guys. If you’re considering adoption or have any questions please don’t hesitate to ask in the comments and I’ll do my best to answer them. It can be a very daunting task and adoption is not for the faint-hearted!

OUR ADOPTION STORY

In 2003, our youngest son (Son #4) started preschool. As with all his older brothers, when we dropped him off for his first day, Mama cried. The LOML (The Love of My Life) took me out for a consolation breakfast to ease my aching heart. It partially worked. Food always makes me feel better!

When I returned home from breakfast, the house was soooooo quiet! I didn’t like it one bit!

During my quiet time, I read a passage of the Bible (can’t tell you what it was about) and then I prayed. During my prayer time, I asked God what he wanted me to do now that all my children didn’t need me any more were in school. I even helped him with suggestions: go back to nursing, teacher’s aide, go back to school, stay home, be the best room mom EVER. For the next few months, I continued to ask. During this time, I had a new friend whose son was in Son #4s preschool class and both of our families attended the same church. Her family was in the process of adopting a little girl from China. As we sat at the park during play dates, she would tell me about all the different stages of the adoption process she was in and I could see how excited she was to be meeting her daughter someday. I was so happy for her and her family. But I remember saying more than once, “better her than me!!”

I had always wanted four kids. The LOML only wanted two. I WON!! I was so happy with our family of all boys. People would ask me if I was disappointed that I didn’t have a girl. NEVER!! Not one time was I ever disappointed with the sex of each of my babies. NEVER!

The next year, Son #4 entered kindergarten. I still was asking God for some kind of sign for my future. I was enjoying my time at home. I was involved in a women’s Bible study, was room mom for three of my kids, had a great group of friends that kept me busy with play dates.

When my friend told me that her husband and dad were traveling to China to pick up her daughter and bring her home I was elated for her. She didn’t want anyone at the airport for the big introduction. I asked her who was going to be taking pictures of this momentous occasion. She hadn’t thought about it. So, she asked if I would. I was honored!!!!

Well, the scene at the airport was the most beautiful, heart pounding, emotional thing I had ever seen! The first time Mom saw her new beautiful Asian baby, she was madly in love! I tried to take pictures through all the tears. I still get teary eyed 16 years later!!

During this time, I believe God was planting in my heart the need to adopt. I didn’t know what He was doing, but he was planning big things for our family.

He started placing adoption everywhere in my life ~ friends, church, tv shows, radio playing in stores I was in, Bible verses, EVERYWHERE! I started feeling a bit unnerved. I really had no interest in enlarging our family. I had no interest in putting in all the work and time and money (we had none!) into something I wasn’t even interested in doing! But it became so obvious that God was not going to take no for answer, I started doing some research. God kept leading me to the country of Kazakhstan. I don’t know if you have ever heard of that country but I hadn’t!! I had to whip out a map to see where the heck it was!

I began getting used to the idea and maybe even a little excited.

BUT, remember earlier I told you the LOML only wanted two children? HA! I had a conversation with God that kinda went like this,

“Okay, Lord, you got me to soften to the idea of adoption but you are never going to change the LOML’s mind. I had to beg, plead, and scratch and claw to get the third and fourth kid. Five and maybe six (yes I was thinking of adopting two girls) kids is not gonna happen!!”

I thought I had won this battle of tug-of-war with God but I was so very wrong.

I remember the cold winter morning in 2003. The LOML and I were Christmas shopping and we stopped at Panera Bread for something warm to drink. While we waited for a seat, I told him I needed to talk to him about something very important. I was so nervous! I think it went something like this:

“I believe God wants us to adopt.”

I think he went into shock. He was very quiet while we shopped.

I kept doing my research for the next few months. After I was positively sure that we were supposed to adopt, I said to the LOML one night as we were getting ready for bed how I was feeling

“I believe God wants us to adopt two girls from Kazakhstan.”

(And as a footnote: the television was on and we were watching “Law and Order” and guess what the topic of the show was…..ADOPTION! I can’t make this stuff up!)

and he said,

“Well, we’re gonna have to get a bigger car then.”

And off we were on our adoption journey.

Please come back to read about how we met our daughters and all the uncertainty that is

ADOPTION

Love y’all,

Linda