Around this time of year, I get really reflective. I remember all the things we were experiencing two years ago at this time in our adoption journey. So much uncertainty. So much anticipation. So much hope. We knew that God was on the brink of something big in our story, but had no idea how the story would play out. This past week at church, our pastor talked about the importance of “looking in the rearview mirror” to remember what God has done. As I reflect on past experiences, I remember the happy, I remember the sad and in the end, I remember the goodness of God through it all. There is purpose in remembering what God’s done in our lives, because there will come a time when I will functionally forget. By writing it down, I have something to come back to in the times I need it most.

As we went through our adoption journey, I was able to blog through most of it as it was occurring and I am so thankful for that. I love being able to look back and remember just what God was doing in our hearts and circumstances through it all. But after our second failed adoption in April 2013, I stopped writing. It just got to be too much. Then, BAM, we announced that we had become parents to Bella in July 2013, just a few months later. But God did so much in those three months leading up to that. He continued to take us “deeper than our feet could ever wander”. Our faith was tested and we had to trust Him in ways I wasn’t sure I could. And in the end, I saw the lines of His face as He drew me closer to Him. So two years later, before the memories fade, I want to write it down. To remember that God is at work in the mess and craziness of life and that He redeems and restores. Here is a peek into the untold stories of our adoption journey.

————————————————————————————

After our second failed placement in April 2013, we talked about our “what next”. We had been through so much already and decided we’d be open to adopting TWO children in 2013. We weren’t sure what that would look like and we weren’t going to actively pursue that route, but we knew that we would be open to the situation if it arose.

Shortly after our adoption profile went live for a third time, we were contacted by “Julie” (name changed for privacy) in mid May. We chatted for a couple weeks over the phone, email and text message, making sure that we were on the same page regarding what we hoped for in the adoption. After much prayer on both sides, we decided to enter a match at the end of May 2013. Her baby boy would be due on June 23, 2013; less than a month away at that point.

Days after we talked about matching with Julie, we received the email about Bella and we were faced with the opportunity to adopt two children, like we had talked about! It wasn’t even a question for Joe and me. We knew that we wanted to push forward with both adoptions as long as God kept the doors open BUT, a lot would still have to fall into place. First, we talked to Bella’s birth family to see how they felt about it. Her birth mother said, “I would love if Bella was a big sister!”. Next, we had to talk to Julie about how she felt about it and she also was on board. God was flinging the doors wide open and we were (nervously) going to walk through them!

And so continued our crazy journey towards parenthood. This time, Operation Two Kiddos!

So, the plan was as follows. Julie would be induced on June 18, 2013 in Oregon. We would be there for the birth, spend about a week there until we were cleared to go back to Arizona, then head out to Nevada with the new baby to get Bella on July 18th (our wedding anniversary) and bring our whole family back to AZ a week or so later. We were going to become parents to TWO kids in one month’s time! Crazy? Yes! But we were getting pretty used to crazy in our life by this time :). And like most of our plans, God had his own plan in the works anyway.