Friday, October 6, 2006

Where it all began...Our Story

Our story, those words include so much more than we could ever write but we wanted to give you all little background on how God led us to adoption and soon to Charlotte.

Jay and I were married August 8, 1998, the happiest day of our lives. We are truly blessed to have found each other. Jay is so much more than my husband, he is my best friend and I thank God everyday for him. On February 12, 2001 our son Ethan was born. He blesses us everyday, with his sweet spirit, warm heart and gentleness. Ethan is the coolest kid we know and a blessing to everyone he comes in contact with. After having Ethan we knew our family would grow. We love being parents. When Ethan was 18 months old we began trying to have another child. The months started to roll by and no baby. We had a miscarriage at one point but kept persevering. After more than a year with no success we contacted an infertility specialist. During this time I had already begun researching adoption, particularly international adoption. I even had info packets sent to the house. One packet came with a DVD. I put the DVD in and cried as I watched Steven Curtis Chapman and his wife adopt their first child from China. Was this what we were supposed to do, was this how God wanted us to grow our family? We talked about it a little but eventually put in on the back burner and moved on with life. I continued seeing the Infertility Specialist and after a battery of tests all we found was some scar tissue on my ovaries. I had laproscopic surgery to correct the problem and was given a 75% chance of becoming pregnant within the next year. That year went by and still no baby. Jay and I decided to move forward with In vitro-Fertilization, maybe this was God's plan we told ourselves. Lots of medication and hundreds of injections later, one small embryo was fertilized and I was positive that our baby was going to be in our arms soon. My first blood results after the transfer were very good, I was pregnant. However, it was short lived. My next two test results showed that I was going to miscarry. This pregnancy was not to be and we were devastated. But remember, God had already been working on my heart. Remember the research I did, the DVD I watched. The people I would see around town with little girls from China. I finally realized God's plan for our family. We needed to adopt a little girl from China. God still had some probing to do on Jay's heart but within a few weeks we knew our next step. We applied to America World Adoption Agency-a Christian agency and the same one that Steven Curtis Chapman and his wife used to adopt their now 3 daughters from China. This adoption process has already been so positive. We see God at work in this adoption journey over and over again. And we have a little boy who cannot wait to be a big brother. We still have a journey ahead of us and it is not always going to be easy. But one thing we have learned is that it is all in God's hands. He will guide us and point us in the right direction if we listen. We continue to pray for this journey and hope that we are finally on the right path. We ask that you will do the same for our family.



Our Family

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