Our Adoption Story

Hi friends!  I'm linking up with Kelly's Korner to share our story of adoption.

We had always been open to adoption.  After a few years of infertility we felt led to look into adoption in Prague, Czech Republic where we had been living for the past couple of years. We had a Czech colleague help us contact a social worker and fill out the paperwork. We were told that the process can go fast if a couple is willing to adopt a Roma (Gypsy) child, which we were. It took 6 months to get approved. Of course we thought it would go fast by this point, but little did we know that our wait would take another year and a half!!!

Adoptions are done through the Czech government and is only available to nationals or foreigners on a long term work visa. In talking to a friend of a friend about a possible adoption (that didn't go anywhere) we learned about another non-profit organization that does private adoptions. In a few months they matched us with a birthmom.  She wanted to meet us. She was due in 2 months, at the time. We took our Czech colleague to help with translation. After talking with her we were eager to go forward, but we had reservations.

The due date came and we were getting anxious to know something. Within a few days we found out that the birthmom took off on her own to have the baby. It was later discovered that she was actually trying to sell the baby on the internet!!  She had strung us along!  The organization found out about it and tried to have her caught through a set up by the police! They got her but she was not charged with anything. It became a national story running on the news in Czech Republic.

I was devastated!!

Through this loss I found a wonderful online ministry called Hannah's Prayer that helped me through this time.  What a blessing!

In April 2005, 6 months after our first adoption loss the private organization contacted us about a Roma baby boy that was being placed for adoption.  It was the day before I was to leave for a 3 week trip to Texas for a retreat & conference.  I was so excited and we were assured that it was a 99% chance. Because of paperwork, etc. it would be the following week before it would happen, so I decided to go to the States for the retreat and return in a few days. I got back and the parents changed their minds.

Once again, I was devastated!!

We were able to work it out for me to go back to the States with my husband for the conference. It was a nice diversion to the loss, but the pain surfaced upon returning to Prague. This really spiraled me into a state of depression and I was ready to throw away our calling to missions overseas and just go back to the States. I was mad at God for putting me through this.....TWICE!!

Counseling is available to us through our organization (IMB) and decided it would be a good thing for us to do. It helped just to talk through our losses and it came down to where I was with the Lord and that I really needed to work on that before addressing anything else.  Within a couple of months I worked through my grief and drew closer to the Lord and found a sort of peace in the wait.  We decided to take a MUCH needed vacation in August and went to Ireland for a week!!!  

Wow, what a trip that was!!  Incredible and Beautiful!

 That summer we prayed through and decided to pursue a procedure called IVF (in-vitro fertilization) to attempt one last shot at pregnancy while we waited on this adoption. I had an initial appointment and within the next month things started moving forward.  Five days into starting the procedure.....

.....our lives changed!

We got a call that we had been matched to a 5 month old Roma baby girl! This time it was the government adoption process and more of a guarantee, but I still had my doubts. 

Friday we got to go visit her at the orphanage.  She was beautiful!

Of course, we fell in love! 

We visited her again on Sunday and took her home on Tuesday!!   No need for those doubts!  Five days after finding out about her, we were taking a baby home!

October 4, 2005, our Gotcha Day!

Oh, and how did that IVF procedure turn out?  The end result was twins!

For more of the story, check out our "Path to Parenthood" page.

Thanks for reading about our journey!