MEET THEO

I will never forget the first time I got the chance to talk with Lauren and Nathan. Their hearts were incredibly kind and I could instantly tell that they wanted to walk the adoption journey in a way that honored each and every person involved, mainly their future child's family. It was beautiful to see them take each step forward with faith as they completed each step of their adoption journey. They checked off their home study, continued forwarded with their education, designed their profile book, and started applying to agencies, even with a few road bumps. Each time they said yes to a mom that did not choose them back, their hearts amazed me. "I am so glad she found a family that has brought her peace." A posture that was for an expecting mom each and every time. When their yes did come, watching them so lovingly care for her was just natural. It was an honor to not only walk with them, but to know them and be connected to their story too! I hope their story encourages you today. 

In Lauren's words:

Adoption has been a part of our extended families’ stories through both of our grandmothers - one as an adoptee, and one as an adoptive mother. We always knew we wanted it to be a part of our family story, too. Our hearts were called to adoption and we had many conversations about adoption in the early years of our marriage. After walking through infertility, we knew that adoption would enter our family story earlier than we had expected. While adoption was never our plan B, we would eventually see just how God would use the timing of our journey to lead us to our son.  

We contacted CAC in May of 2023, and got connected with Fallon immediately. Overwhelmed with everything involved in the adoption process, Fallon gave us a sense of calm and direction, organizing and explaining everything through each step. We had a mountain to climb, but with CAC and Fallon, we knew we had our guide to lead us on the journey.

While each step felt like it took forever, featuring several bumps and setbacks, we tried to trust the process and held onto our faith and our community as we completed our home study, many background checks, paperwork, creating our profile book, and working with agencies. 

Along the way we experienced all the emotions every hopeful adoptive parent walks through: fear, discouragement, hope. We saw many cases, and were told “not yet” many times. As the wait grew longer, we began to wonder more and more what God was doing with our stories while we were trying to be faithful during the wait. 

And then one day a case came through that our hearts connected to as soon as we saw it. We immediately decided to say yes, again in hope. We presented our profile book through our agency, and sent the expectant mom a letter. The next day, she wanted to do a video call with us as she made her decision. We have never been so nervous! We got on a Zoom call and got to talk with her and answer some of her questions. We felt connected to her but knew she had a huge decision to make. Only two hours later, we got the call, hearing the words that would change our lives forever:  “she loved you guys and she chose you.” 

Over the next couple of months we cautiously prepared for a baby’s arrival, wanting to be ready but also knowing that things could still change and the expectant mother could choose to parent at any point. We slowly became more in contact with her, and began getting to know each other. We always knew we wanted to work towards an open adoption and were finally taking those next steps with her. We had a lot of hope, but fear for the unknown, too. 

There were many ups and downs while we waited for baby’s arrival. This was by far the hardest part of the entire process! One day, we woke up to a phone call from our agency’s adoption specialist: “you should get ready and start driving because she had the baby!” We were in shock and immediately began the longest drive of our lives. Our son was here, we just had to get to him. 

The next couple of days gave us moments we will treasure for the rest of our lives. We got to spend two days in the hospital with our son and his amazing birth mom. We got to know each other and learned so much about her and where he comes from. The hospital gave us a room next door, and we were so grateful for that time altogether. We can’t wait to share all the details of his story with him one day. After a few days, we finally brought our son home. 

All throughout our adoption process, we experienced a lot of “both/ands” and I know we will continue to walk in those as we raise our son to know his story. Adoption is both sorrow and joy, grief and gratitude, loss and love. I can confidently say that God used this journey to show us his incredible, overwhelming grace. 

When we were frustrated with infertility, God was preparing our hearts to be resilient and to lean on Him through hard things. When we felt alone and abandoned, God gave us a community filled with foster and adoptive stories to encourage and strengthen us. When we were overwhelmed with the process, God brought CAC and Fallon into our lives to give us a sense of direction and purpose. When we thought nothing was happening, our son was being formed in his mother’s womb. When we felt hopeless in the waiting, our son’s mom was making the decision to place for adoption. When we started to wonder if we would ever be chosen, our son’s mom was looking at our profile. We learned that even when we couldn’t see it, God was writing all of our stories the entire time. He is worthy to be trusted and he is full of grace that we don’t deserve. In the midst of our doubt and lack of faith, He meets us where we are and gives us more than we could even imagine.

We truly couldn’t be more grateful for Fallon and Christian Adoption Consultants. They faithfully guided us, prayed for us, and walked with us every step. Our whole family thanks you, CAC! We could not have done it without you.