In Sean and Kelsey's words:
Infertility led us to begin discussing adoption, my husband had a desire to adopt and brought it up early in our journey to grow our family. I took me more time to truly grieve the loss of fertility before being able to move forward with adoption. I felt it was only fair, as we considered growing our family through adoption, to allow all that time, failed treatment, and grief of hope to be surrendered to God, allowing him to lead us forward. We prayed for the next year about adoption before being led to pursue it fully. I wish I could say my heart was prepared, strong, and brave. But you see, adoption is so different for everyone and you truly don't know how God will work when you're in the mundane middle mess of your story. What I can tell you is God orchestrated every step of our way during our adoption process. We completed all the necessary requirements for our home study and signed on with our consultant agency. A month later, we began seeing profiles of expectant parents looking to make an adoption plan.
I had no idea how much my heart would ache and grieve to see these women's stories and lives strewn out on paper. We prayed for every mama and baby we saw. We prayed as we submitted our yes, and prayed through every "not yet." When Christmas season came, our hearts became weary with waiting for our yes and believing it would actually come. I longed for the open connection with an expectant mama and of course the hope of a little one in our home. A few weeks later, our deep cry for a hopeful yes would be answered when an agency in Florida notified us an expectant mom had chosen us as adoptive parents for her daughter. When the time came for this sweet baby girl to be born she asked me to be apart of it all. No matter if she felt empowered to parent or place, I was so honored to be there as her support. The next day this amazing woman chose to parent, and although my heart shattered, I was so happy she felt confident in her choice. We sent her a message of love and hope and then left that city and went to the coast where we spent a few days processing and lamenting.
Two weeks later, my husband approached me with a desire to go active with our adoption consultant again. We prayed and decided to share openly about our disrupted adoption. We had so many family and friends stand in the gap to help us rebuild. And we pressed in, fixing our eyes on Jesus and the words he gave us before we started our adoption journey. We decided to go active again and within a week of seeing profiles, we submitted to an expectant family. Each day waiting for the answer was terrifying and uncomfortable. My soul craved the comfort of a "yes" and suddenly, we would be sitting with one! The agency called and said, "She choose your family. She wants you to adopt her baby." I again was in total disbelief, shocked that someone would choose us. Again, we hopped on a plan bound for Florida, except this time coronavirus had fully become a global pandemic. Between the cancelled flights, less than 20 passengers on a 200+ passenger plane, extra hand sanitizer, Clorox wipes and face masks we flew down to Florida to be present for another expectant family. Four days after we flew down we were holding our precious daughter in our arms. Her birth mom asked me to be present for delivery and, I stood there, loving this strong mama as she labored and delivered the most beautiful baby girl into the world. I went to the nursery with baby and began bathing, feeding, and holding her. The hospital was gracious enough to offer us a room and baby girl stayed with us for two days before being discharged with us as her parents. Walking out of the hospital with a baby was a feeling of grief filled joy. Knowing we were going home with this beautiful baby, but her birth parents were leaving empty handed was a lot for my heart to handle. Our story, though hard, is redemptive, good, and filled with hope too. God used all the broken parts of my heart and the fear filled YES to lead us to our precious daughter, Navy.
And then, after your brief suffering, the God of all loving grace, who has called you to share in his eternal glory in Christ, will personally and powerfully restore you and make you stronger than ever. Yes, he will set you firmly in place and build you up.
Working with Fallon was truly amazing. She walked us through the ups and downs on our adoption journey. Many times my heart was weary and Fallon was always responsive to pray for us or sit and listen to our hearts. We are so thankful for her and think of her as family! If your considering adoption, I'd highly recommend working with Fallon! We feel so grateful for her, her heart, and her adoption insight and support.
***If you are interested in learning more about adoption and services we provide at Christian Adoption Consultants, I would love to chat! Feel free to email me, Fallon Palacios, at Fallon@christianadoptionconsultant.com and check out www.christianadoptionconsultants.com for more information!! ***
