The way it all happened

So we officially finished our paperwork on Sep 26, 2007. The next morning, we got a call from our agency: In anticipation of our final filing, they had shared some of our profile information with a partner placement agency. They wanted to know if we would like to be made available for consideration by a birth mother. We were a little shocked at the time line, but agreed. Could this really be happening?

That afternoon, we received a phone call from a complete stranger to discuss the possibility of adopting her son! She had such a beautiful spirit. I can't describe the emotions that surrounded that phone conversation. ...the reality of the difficulty this presented for her ...the hope it meant for us! In a matter of one phone call, everyone knew that this was really going to happen.

The birth mother said she felt like she was going to go into labor in the next 24 hrs. The doctors and agencies were doubtful. Surprise, she gave birth on Friday morning, less than 36 hours after we were notified that our paperwork was finished! We purchased tickets for the next flight out.

Meeting our son and his birth mother was one of the most unique experiences we've ever had. As we entered the hospital room, we were greeted by a beautiful African American woman, calmly changing the diaper of a beautiful baby boy. Her eyes were full of the joy of giving birth, the anguish of letting go, and the hope that these two strangers held for her child. I'll say it even though it's cliche: We laughed, we cried. How do you say thank you to someone for giving you their child?

So there you have it: One day we're thinking, "I wonder how long it will be before we get a referral? - a few months? - a few years?" Two days later we were driving our new son from the hospital to a hotel room that would serve as home for his first week of life.

How it all began

Before we every had our own biological children, we thought of how great it would be to adopt. We always knew that there was so much need... Kids should grow up with parents.

Over the course of the next four years we had two beautiful daughters and began to experience the joys of parenthood. We had all of the "normal" experiences with a sprinkling of diversity too. My husband (the Norwegian) and I (the Puerto Rican), managed to produce one very dark and one very light skinned daughter. We looked multi-cultural from the beginning!

As the years passed, we often spoke of adopting a child, but never put much serious action behind our words. It was a couple of years ago when I first spoke the words aloud to my husband, "I feel like someone is missing from our family."

As is often the case in life, we were "coincidentally" in contact with new friends who began to bring up the question of adoption. Isn't it cool that God arranges these great coincidences? Anyway, we began a course of "family meetings" - meeting with this other couple and dreaming about adopting our children. Within about five weeks we both chose the same agency and began our adoption paperwork.

We were people on a mission: Get the paperwork done - now! Something cool is going to happen...