Doug and I were married in 1993 and looked forward to exploring, traveling, living a full and exciting life as newlyweds, then settling down and "starting a family". That's how it's done, right? ;-) The first 18 months were fabulous, Paris and London on our first anniversary...lots of trips around the US, since he was working for Continental Airlines (free flying!). When we were transferred to Denver in Jan of 1995, it seemed like a fine time to expand the clan. Quickly the questions came - "what is happening? why? how could it be?" The answer was "nothing" was going on - no pregnancy, no answers, no comfort in OUR abilities to be parents. We did go through extensive medical procedures, with seemingly many signs to carry on in that direction.....
We sat out on our porch during the summer of 2000, so thankful that our best friends, and back-door neighbors, just arrived home with their infant son, Isaac, from Russia. We had walked the same road together all these years...together we had cried out to God for help!! Doug and I remember remarking to each other about the beauty of adoption and knowing that it was definitely something we were being drawn to.
We had never seen such a beautiful baby....Jacob at 5 months old!
Two weeks after that conversation, after nearly 6 years of infertility, having NEVER even spoken to an adoption agency, we experienced a completely God-ordained, random meeting with Jacob's birth mom. We were fortunate enough to be at his birth 3 weeks later....about 16 months later, we fostered and adopted his twin 4½ year old half-sisters, who came to our family just before Christmas in 2001. Our life was filled beyond what we thought possible. Full of joy, love, adjustment, and most of all, Miracle!!!
Our sweet girls, at age 6
Our transition time and experiences with these sweet girls had a profound impact on us, as they required quite a bit of therapy and adjustment. Those experiences helped us to fully understand God’s calling on our family to continue growing through adoption, and in 2007 we became licensed again as foster/adopt parents. Almost immediately, we received a call about two wonderful brothers, ages 3 months and 2½, whose adoption was finalized in March of 2009.
Andrew at 2.5!
Micah at 6 months!
A few months later, we began fostering a beautiful baby girl, who came to us in July 2009 when she was 6 months old. We loved on her until August 2010, when her mama was able to care for her again. We remain in very close contact with both of them and serve as baby's "God-parents" ;-)
So that's our family in a nutshell.....our kids are bestest bestest friends.....we thank God every day for HIS perfect plan, NOT OURS. We LOVE to be together - playing, working, serving, exploring. We know that HIS ways are perfect....
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