Our Adoption Story

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.” Ephesians 1:3-10 (ESV)

This beautiful piece of Scripture is where our adoption journey truly began in 2009. God, in his graciousness, opened our eyes to see deeper into the gospel and what it means to be “a child of God.” We were overwhelmed by the beauty of how God loved us and had adopted us into his family making us heirs with Christ – son and daughter of The Most High King. As God birthed a greater sense of awe and worship in us, He also birthed in us a love and passion for the fatherless. We saw physical adoption as such a beautiful display of how God adopts us spiritually, and He gave us a deep desire to grow our family through adoption. We love because He first loved us. And so it began... a journey like no other.

Before 2009, adoption was never on our radar. We barely knew any families who had adopted. While were were going through a very difficult pregnancy with our youngest son, Asher, we decided that two kids were enough, and we made the decision to do a tubal ligation. It seems God had different plans for our family, because, not long after Asher was born, he changed our hearts and gave us a desire for more children. We came to a point where we knew that adoption would one day be in our future, but we also knew adoption came with a pretty hefty bill, and we were really intimidated by that. We felt as though there was no way we could adopt any time in the near future, and we just assumed it would be something we would look into ten years down the road. However, God continued to remind us of the call he had placed on our hearts. We began to see and hear “adoption” all around us – in the news, on billboards, in songs, in scripture, in our church, everywhere.  Finally, in the summer of 2012 we felt like God was making it very clear that we were to step out in faith and begin the adoption process.

After much prayer and discussion, we believed God was leading us to adopt internationally and more specifically from India. You can read about how we came to that decision here, but the plight of girls in the Indian culture broke our hearts. That, coupled with the fact that the adoption requirements fit our family perfectly, helped us to make the official decision to adopt from India. We felt very strongly that there was more than one daughter for us, so we decided to request two sisters... because in our minds there was no number larger than two. 

In September 2012, we told our family and friends our surprising news, and in January 2013, we began our home study. We still had no idea how we would be able to pay the massive fees required to adopt multiple children. However, we knew we had to be obedient and follow where the Lord was leading us. 

On Valentines Day 2013, we received the shock of a lifetime. I opened up my e-mail that morning to find a message from our agency titled, “Would You???” In the email, our agency director explained that she had just received the files for three precious sisters who had recently become available for adoption, and she asked if we would be interested in considering them. Still quite confused, I opened the file and saw Khushboo, Kashila and Rabina for the first time. After a few minutes of not breathing, I called Lance and told him to come home. We stared at the pictures and stared at each other. They were the sweetest little Indian faces I had ever seen. I had never believed in “love at first sight,” but I think we both experienced it that Valentines Day!

Khushboo, Kashila and Rabina lost their mother in December of 2011. They were admitted to the Welfare Home for Children in New Delhi in December of that year, and that is where they have lived for almost three years as they have waited for a family... our family.

After praying and seeking council, Lance and I both strongly felt that we were to move forward with these girls. We didn’t know what God was doing, but it wasn’t what we had planned. We trusted He would not lead us wrong, and that He would give us the strength and wisdom and provision to do whatever He called us to do. We had complete peace with saying “Yes!” We told our agency we were indeed interested and desired to move forward, but we didn’t realize we were stepping onto a roller coaster. All the twists, turns, ups and downs of this part of our journey are just too many to recount here. You can read about some of them in our referral story (Referral Part 1, Referral Part 2 and Referral Part 3). 

In September 2013, we had been waiting for months for the Indian government to officially match us with the girls. We were told it would be done. We had beds for them to sleep in and their pictures on our walls, but on September 19th, our agency director called to inform us that we had lost our referral. The girls' referral had been given to another family, and that family had accepted the referral, and there was absolutely nothing we could do. The girls were gone, and we were devastated. We were so hurt and confused. Why had God so clearly led down this road only to break our hearts? We begged God to give us our girls back, but it seemed He would not answer that prayer. Lance and I grieved deeply for a couple of months, yet God was so gracious. He gave us a blanket of peace over the pain. Somehow, we knew in our hearts God was doing something beautiful, and while we couldn’t even begin to imagine what laid ahead, we knew we could trust Him. God’s sovereignty was our only consolation. You can read more about this story here.

Finally, after being assured there was still nothing we could do, we accepted the new reality and tried to move on. We even began pursing another little girl in India whom an adoptive mother had advocated for. She was a beautiful little girl with albinism and we our heart grew to love her quickly. January 2014 came around and we were once again waiting for India to match us with this little girl. We had been told she was available but she wasn't on the database, so we knew we were at the mercy of the authorities in India. We waited for them to respond to our requests. Then, on January 8th, Lance got a call from our agency director. We had been officially matched... but not with the little girl we were pursuing. We had been matched with Khushboo, Kashila and Rabina! The other family had changed their minds and turned the girls down, so India automatically matched the girls with our family! 

To say we were confused is an understatement. You can read more about that story here, but after we able to wrap our minds around the situation, we realized it was incredibly clear this was the work of the Lord. The match was official, and the documents were on their way to us! We were completely floored! God HAD answered our prayers! He had done what was impossible! There are no words adequate enough to explain how this truly felt! We had witnessed a miracle and our girls were coming home!

Earlier I mentioned that financing an adoption was one of our greatest fears. Our adoption as whole required over $65,000 in funds. When we began the process, we had none of this, but God provided every single cent in various ways! 

Throughout this process, God has stretched us, broken us and mold us. This has been one of the most sanctifying experiences we have ever been through and it has taught us so much about the heart of our Heavenly Father. We are so thankful that he has chosen us to go through the journey of adoption. We have been blown away by God's faithfulness and goodness toward our family.

In September 2014, we passed court and Khushboo, Kashila and Rabina became our daughters. On November 5th we boarded a plane and headed across the ocean to meet our girls! We held them in our arms for the first time on November 10th and it was such an amazing day!

Now we are finally home as a family of seven!