adoption story: Tim + Katie

It was such a joy to serve Katie and Tim on the adoption journey to become a family of four.  It was not a journey without tears and hardship, but these two amazed me with their faith and peace throughout it all.  

Theirs is a very unique story, but in the end, the Lord brought them together with their son in a beautiful way.  

Read Katie's testimony below to be encouraged by their faith!

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The Lord's acts of mercy are not exhausted, his compassion is not spent; They are renewed each morning--great is your faithfulness. --Lamentations 3:22

In February 2013, we adopted our daughter from a local agency.  We were thrilled!  

One year later, we were eager to add another child to our family so we updated our paperwork and became active again. After about a year of waiting, our agency closed their adoption services, so we had to switch agencies.

 In January 2017, after more waiting, we started working with Gretchen at CAC.   After one month, we were matched with a birth mother in Louisiana who was expecting a baby boy, and we felt it was a great match. Sadly, as the pregnancy went on, the baby was diagnosed with a genetic disorder. He died shortly after being born. Heartbroken and devastated, we gradually recovered and moved on to try again. 

Three months later, we were matched with a birth mother in Arizona. She delivered a baby girl in August, and at that time she decided to not continue her adoption plan but to keep the baby. Again, we were heartbroken and devastated. What was God wanting for our family?  We were unsure if we should continue this journey.  Along with losing a large sum of money, our family was so very tired of the stress and the “no’s” along the way.  Gretchen encouraged us to keep looking ahead and assured us that God was not done writing our adoption story yet. 

A few months later, a local agency contacted us and matched us with a birth mother due in a few weeks.  We were thrilled!  However, once again, it was not meant to be.  We brought the baby home only to return him four days later to his birth mother who decided after all to parent.  Just when we thought this was the baby for our family, he was gone.  Our arms were so empty and are hearts were so sad. We knew that God was still in charge and in prayer He seemed to be asking me, “Do you trust me?”  I knew that after all of our ups and downs, my only answer had to be “yes!”.

We grieved over the Christmas holiday and were comforted by our family and friends.  Thanks to their prayers and support, we were amazed to realize that we wanted to move on with our adoption plans.  He was faithfully watching over us despite the sufferings.  We had a taste of being parents again and our daughter was eager to have a baby “to keep”. We continued to have our profiles shown over the next months.  We heard so many “no’s” that we lost count. We were so weary of the process and begged God to help us find our child.

In early February 2017, we were sent a situation where the baby was due in 2 weeks, Valentine’s day.  This would be our daughter’s fifth birthday! We were unsure if we could trust the process again but prayed that God would shut the door if it was not a good fit.  We had our profile shown and a week later our social worker called to say we were matched. The birth mother was scheduled to be induced in a few days, so we quickly packed our bags (we had done this twice before).  In a couple days we flew to AZ. Once we arrived we met the birth mother over dinner.  Things seemed to be going smoothly and we were holding our breath…”God, would this be the time, finally?”  The birth mother was induced and on February 15, a healthy baby boy, Augustine Andrew, was born.  

Over the next few days, during my stay at the hospital, we were able to spend time with Augustine’s birth mother.  These very special days filled with much grace, peace and prayer.  There was also plenty of fear and doubt, but I felt the Lord continuing to ask me, “Do you trust me?”.  Reluctantly, I said, “Yes, Lord, let Your will be done”.  

Amazingly, after 72 hours, Augustine’s brave birth mother signed consents for us to adopt her son!  We were stunned!  It had finally happened!  We returned home a week later to elated family and friends.

Proud big sister!

Hospital discharge!

Finalization

Looking back now, nearly 9.5 months later, we believe that God had a reason for bringing us through the long journey.  Our faith was tested many times but we continued to believe in His faithfulness.   During many dark days, we clung to him and each other.  We are so grateful for our family and friends who prayed for and supported us.  They hoped for us when it was difficult to hope. Also, Gretchen was a blessing to us.  She encouraged and prayed for us through all of our ups and downs.  She was a constant support, day or night, as we discerned new situations or needed assurance to keep going.

We are so grateful for the privilege of raising our children and for their brave birth mothers.  God knew all along how long this process would take and we just needed to trust that it would work out eventually. 

He is faithful!