Birth Mother Profiles

We have reached an incredibly overwhelming stage of this adoption process. It's so overwhelming, in fact, that I considered keeping this part private. However, I have had numerous people recently who have told me that they are so grateful for how open I have been about everything because they have been considering adoption and this has helped them to understand the process.

So...here it is.
We got an email on Saturday night, December 22nd, with our first birth mother profile to review. I will not go into any details about this woman, but I'll just explain process!

We received the email with the birth mother profile. The adoption specialist said we could review the information and let her know if we would like to be presented to that birth mother. We needed to act quickly.
In this profile, we were completely shocked by just how much information we were able to learn about this woman. (This was our first profile to view, so it was new for us!) We learned her first name, race, medical background, brief family history, her reason for choosing adoption, her picture, and quite a bit more info. It was VERY helpful for us. We also learned as much as the agency knew about the birth father.

Before we could even finish discussing the profile, we got ANOTHER profile! Within a matter of minutes, we had TWO expectant women to learn about very quickly!

We read each profile and decided we would like to be presented to both! I emailed the adoption specialist back and told her, and she sent our profile to each of the women. They would have a few days to look through a few different families' profiles and choose one to adopt their babies.

Then...WE WAITED!

Oh, the wait! That was the 22nd. I knew it would take a few days, and the adoption specialist said Christmas would mean it could take even longer, but even knowing it would be a few days, those two women and those two babies are ALL I have been thinking about!

Today, December 26th, we got an email that the first woman chose a different family.

I'm not going to lie, my hopes were up! I was disappointed when I read that email. Not crushed. Not devastated. Just disappointed. I did tear up. I told Austin it was the exact same feeling as seeing a negative pregnancy test. It's a hard feeling. It's VERY easy to jump to, "Why not us? I wonder what they saw in another couple that they didn't see in us." Ugh! I hate that! This was the FIRST birth mother! We have been told to basically expect the unexpected. It could be tomorrow, or it could be 6 months from now! But reading those words that the birth mother chose a different family stings a little! However, after I had my little pity party for myself, I was reminded that this was not our baby. God designed that sweet baby for another family. Who knows how long that family had been waiting for that wonderful news! Maybe a week, or maybe a year! All I do know is that there is a family celebrating right now, and in April they will bring their missing piece home!

The other thing I know is that our missing piece is still out there! We are still waiting to hear back from the second birth mother from this weekend. The adoption specialist said she has another profile that will go out this week sometime. Our time is coming! Our baby is coming! The waiting is really hard! I stare at my phone. I check my email about 50 times a day. I try to keep my phone on loud, and when I can't, it's on vibrate. It's rough! However, these first two profiles have given us immense hope! We understand this stage of the process so much better now! We are comforted in knowing that we will learn a crazy amount of information about each birth mother, which will help us to make wise decisions. It's a very difficult phase, but it's a really great phase as well. We get to specifically pray for expectant mothers by name with a picture of them in our minds. THAT is really amazing! Each woman who comes across our email will be smothered in prayer, and so will their baby, whether they choose us or not!

You can join us in prayer!
1. Pray for the birth mothers. They are making HUGE and SELFLESS decisions. Pray that God comforts them and gives them guidance.
2. Pray for those babies! We are seeing REAL women now who are carrying REAL babies. This is no longer a hypothetical situation. Pray for their little lives!
3. Pray for us! I just THOUGHT this journey was an emotional roller coaster. Ha! That was before I saw the names, faces, and background stories of the women involved. This is so hard! The waiting. The hoping. The unknowns. The desperate praying. It's draining, and it has only just begun!

**I do not plan to share a post every time we receive a profile or a no. However, I do want others who are considering adoption to learn through our experience. I also want our many supporters and prayer warriors to know what's going on. I'll share what I feel is appropriate to share!