Rowan's Story Part 1

Most of you know that for the last 6 months Eric and I had been actively pursuing adoption through the foster care system. After inquiring about nearly 100 children (seriously, I have all the records) we started to get really weary. We knew this was a need and honestly our search criteria was pretty open as far as age, race, gender, sibling groups, medical, physical, developmental needs. Although we were open, we weren't getting ANYTHING. Occasionally a social worker would email us back saying we're sorry this child has already been placed or due to the age of the child in your home, we feel this would not be a good placement. We were just down right sad and extremely frustrated. 

On our way to Indiana for Thanksgiving we were praying asking God to show us which path we should take. With adoption, there are so many different avenues and unfortunately with all the paperwork you kind of have to pick which avenue and push forward in that specific direction. Since we didn't feel a specific call to a county we were pretty sure that Domestic Adoption was our path. We also, didn't necessarily want a baby and knew there was a need for older child/sibling group adoption, so that's how we came to our decision to adopt through the foster care system. With all the rejection we had received we started to wonder if we had picked the right avenue and even thought that maybe this was God's way of saying we shouldn't adopt again. 

A quick back story. In September while we were in the middle of all the rejection letters from social workers. We were both feeling pretty discouarged and so unsure what exactly God wanted us to do. One day as I was reading my devotions, I read "The Lord will FIGHT for you, you have only to be silent.". So of course me being the dense person that I can be at times didn't fully grasp this statement and I actively continued to seek out child after child after child, only to be rejected once again. If only I knew back than what I know now. God was literally wanting me to be silent, not just my voice but my actions. He was fighting on my behalf and on our sweet Rowan's behalf. He was orchestrating and interweaving the lives of two completely different famlies who would forever be connected by one sweet little boy. 

Well once we arrived in Indiana, the day before Thanksgiving to be exact, Eric and I ALMOST had our worlds rocked. We received a text from a sweet friend saying that a baby girl had been born the day before and they needed a family for her. Long story short, they ended up placing her with another family and although we were very disappointed the lawyer told us of another baby that was going to be born in January. She didn't know the gender, but knew that the baby was in desperate need of a family.

After not hearing from the lawyer for several weeks we decided to reach out to her and find out if this baby was still in need of a home. The lawyer told us she was still working with the Birth mom and would get back to us with more details. Once again we didn't hear anything for several more days, than on December 11th the lawyer called back saying she had been in contact with the birth mom and she was still wanting to move forward with the adoption. She told us that she needed a commitment THAT day whether or not we were wanting to move forward with this adoption. This also meant putting forth a large amount of money, knowing that if the mom changed her mind, it would be lost. Coincidentally, this was also the SAME day that Eric came home EXCLAIMING that he had gotten a promotion at work. Coincidence??? No way! 

So after lots of prayer on December 11th we agreed to move forward and committed our portion of money that was needed for the adoption.