- Meet Finola -
In Jake and Natalie's Words:
It was not that long ago that I was sitting in the same position as some of you all — in a season of waiting. I would see other families who were chosen or my friends having littles of their own. While I was genuinely happy for them, I always wondered “will this ever be my story?” Friends, if you are in this season where it feels like all you are doing is waiting, know that I see you.
Our story to parenthood began with the discovery that we were unable to have biological children. We spent months praying and processing our next steps and eventually felt the call to pursue adoption. Without a place to start, I went to the good ol’ instagram and I stumbled upon CAC.
Coincidentally, I learned later in the week that my brother’s friends were also pursuing adoption and using CAC. It felt like it was meant to be so we called and met Fallon. She explained the ins and outs of the adoption world to prepare us for the paperwork and process ahead. We were so excited to work with her and got started. After slogging through the paperwork we were officially approved in August 2019. We instantly started seeing cases.
I had this hope that the process would be quick and easy but that’s not our story. We were approved in August 2019 and we were placed with our baby girl in September 2020. During that year we saw a lot of expecting parent's stories. We presented to some and others weren’t a fit for us. Yet, throughout it all we prayed for these individuals. In a year, we were able to pray for so many expecting mothers as they navigated making an adoption plan. It’s a big decision and we knew God needed to be part of the process.
I won’t lie, the waiting was brutal at times and many tears were shed. I had moments of self-doubt. What if we are never picked and will we ever have a child? Each time we’d present we would pray and hope this was the one. Time and again it wasn’t. Being told you weren’t chosen is crushing after some tears, I would say that wasn’t a “no,” it was a “not yet.”
I prayed and stayed hopeful that one day we would be chosen. And guess what? We were eventually chosen! Looking back over the year, I can see how God laid the plan for us and our baby girl.
It was August 2020 as we answered a Facetime call from an expecting mother telling us that she chose us. We were chosen and we were ecstatic! This baby girl was due on October 2 so we started planning. We told our family and friends that the wait was over and we were so happy. Over a few weeks, we started building a relationship with the woman who chose us and got to know her.
In mid-September, suddenly, there was a disruption. We. Were. Devastated.
But, God had a bigger plan. We found out about the disruption on Wednesday and as I went to bed on Saturday night I felt at peace. I woke up the next morning to tell Jake that I felt we needed to pack. That night, the agency sent us a case of a baby girl whose mom had made an adoption plan but that the plan had failed. She was going into labor and would be seeing new family profiles. We prayed and decided to present with hopeful, yet guarded, hearts.
24 hours later, we were on the phone, again, with the woman who would change out lives forever. She had chosen us. It was wild! We were going to be parents to this sweet baby girl, who was also originally due October 2, in the same state as the first mama who had chosen us. God had a plan all along. Friends, I’m here to say that the process might be hard but one day your waiting will be over. We are eternally grateful and humbled that this amazing woman saw something in us.
Finola Ariana was born on September 20, 2020. We waited a year to become parents. But in that waiting we were growing, praying, and loving on a multitude of expecting mothers whose cases passed through our hands. Adoption is messy, hard, beautiful and life altering — but I think I just summed up parenthood.
***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!! ***
