Hope Fulfilled

This is an article that Janet wrote about our adoption of Christopher a few months after his birth:

On Christmas Eve 1994, a little over a year into our marriage, Terry and I decided to start trying to have a baby. So with excitement and prayer, we set off on our journey.

After 2 1/2 years, disappointed at our lack of success but still hopeful, we talked to our doctor. Next we spent about a year doing tests, treatments, and medication, again with no results. We were referred to an infertility specialist.

During the next year, we were ruled by the calendar--see the doctor on these days, take medicine on other days; and so on and so on, month after month. Through it all I, who hate the sight of a needle coming my way, got more blood tests than I could imagine in a lifetime; and also discovered I could give myself shots. (I never dreamed that possible in a million years!) But at the end of twelve months we had tried artificial insemination five times; I still wasn't pregnant; and we were frustrated, stressed out, and emotionally and physically exhausted. We knew we had to call it quits.

We needed time, as Terry put it, to "enjoy what we had." So, for the next year, we rested, healed, and tried not to dwell on the idea of having a child. (We found out later that we were really mourning the loss of the biological child we were unable to have.) After this period of refreshing, and a lot of prayer, we contacted Christian Services of Oklahoma about adoption in July 2000.

The next 2 1/2 years were spent on a roller-coaster ride of emotions, broken hearts, prayers, and tears. So many times we heard about a possible available child; our hopes would rise, only to be dashed to the ground.

Through one of the most difficult periods, when we had been extremely disappointed and hurt, Terry was reading Hosea. He realized that, just as Hosea saw his love for his unfaithful wife as a metaphor for God's love for Israel, so our longing to adopt a child could serve as a metaphor for God's longing to adopt people into his family.

My key thought through it all was "God in in control; He knows and will do what is best." While I believed that and prayed for God's will to be done, it was hard to submit! So I had to repeat it to myself, day by day, hour by hour, sometimes minute by minute, over and over.

The first part of December 2002, we received a call about a little boy who would be born the next month. We did some checking, but it didn't seem like this one would work out, either. However, we were ecstatic when we received a letter on New Year's Eve 2002 that said we were the chosen family for that little boy.

The next three weeks went by in a blur; until on January 21, 2003, at 6:46 am, we were in the delivery room as our son, Christopher, was born.

In the months since then, we have been blessed beyond measure, both by our wonderful little guy and the lessons we learned in the process of finding him. Now, when our family members say with awe, "You got the right baby. You just had to wait for the right one," I can answer with joy, "Yes, God sent us the right one; He knows what He's doing!"