Our Adoption Journey

Ask anyone. I was the little girl who carried around little dolls and made sure they were covered with blankets at night (much to my sister JoJuan's irritation) and daydreamed they would come alive so I could have my own little babies. So, when I met my Prince Charming, I just knew babies would come soon afterwards. So, we waited and we waited and we finally found out getting pregnant just wasn't going to happen for us. At first, we were pretty devastated. But with some faith and a whole lot of prayer, we realized we were going to be parents but just not by the usual route. Thank goodness God knows what is right for each of us. We were pursuing Plan B because it was the cultural norm and we needed that experience to grow in faith but adoption was always God's Plan A for us.

So, we started our adoption journey with excitement. I remember my sister saying to me, "Can you just imagine getting that phone call telling you to come pick up your baby? And you'll be driving to that hospital with an empty baby carseat in your car but you'll be driving home with a baby in it?" Well, it didn't happen exactly like that but pretty close. Two weeks after we finished our paperwork, we got one of the two best phone calls in our lives. We had been picked by "S" and "R" to be the parents of their little boy. We met them in person that following week-end and were so nervous!!

About a week later, our little Carter was born. I will never forget the first time we saw him, touched him, held him. It was as if our whole lives had been waiting for that moment. And he has been a joy ever since. He is our sunshine, full of life and joy. He is a determined little boy but also loves to cuddle with his Momma and loves to play "monkey" with Dan (they both hop around like monkeys on the floor, and I've got to say, Dan is eerily good at this!). I can't believe our little boy turns 3 this week! Wasn't it just yesterday that we brought him home in that carseat that wasn't empty anymore?

When Carter turned one, we just knew we needed to put our paperwork in to adopt again. And a month later, we had the second best phone call of our lives. We had been picked by "J" to be the parents of another little boy. We were thrilled! Our Noah was born two months later, weighing in at a whopping 10 lbs 5 oz. I remember driving home from the hospital, just looking at him and touching him to make sure he was really there.

Noah is our gentle soul. He gives the best hugs and completely loves his big brother. He imitates everything Carter does, which isn't always the best thing in the world. Dan and I love watching them play together. It's one of the best feelings in the world, realizing we are the parents of these little boys. How did we get so lucky? I told Noah's birthgrandmother that we felt so lucky, and she said, "No, not lucky. Blessed."