LIFE CHANGES QUICKLY

A couple weeks before my brother’s death, we received a call from our adoption agency. A woman from eastern Iowa was very interested in having us adopt her unborn child. She was seven months pregnant and interested in us talking to her and answering some questions over the phone. So, we had that conversation and we got a very positive response from her. The last thing was for us to meet her in person and get acquainted. So we set the date for late February to meet her and her parents.

We did not know at the time, but this date would be just a few days after my brother’s passing. Kristin and I had to decide whether to go ahead and meet with the birth family or try to postpone the meeting. I had just lost Joe a few days earlier, and was starting to feel guilt over leaving my family to go meet about the POSSIBILITY of adopting a child. It seems like that would be a great diversion, but I was at the lowest of lows and trying to figure out what was going on. We weren’t sure what to do, but God has a way of speaking through extraordinary circumstances. In this case, my crazy Aunt Penny.

Up to this point in my life, I had never received any advice from my crazy Aunt Penny, much less accepted it. I mean, her name is CRAZY Aunt Penny! (I use “crazy” in an affectionate manner ) But through the storm, came the soothing advice, “You need to go and meet this woman. God may be giving you guys new life, new hope, in the midst of tragedy.” It made perfect sense. So, Kristin and I decided to go to Cedar Rapids to meet this woman.

Our good friends, David and Michelle Wanat, agreed to go with us to Cedar Rapids. We arrived at the agency office, nervous as all get out. This was our first impression on the potential birth mother of our child. Kristin and I went into the office, while the Wanats stayed in the van. We did not want to overwhelm this young woman.

I am not going to go into details about that meeting, but it is safe to say that both sides were confident in each other. We all realized that God was doing an awesome thing by bringing us together. After one more phone call the following week, the birth mother decided that we were the ones and that she wanted us at the hospital when she gave birth. She explained to us that she felt God chose her to carry OUR baby! There is no other explanation for this miracle than a sovereign God being in control.

The only detail left to work out was the birth father. The agency assured us he was not going to be a problem. He was married to another woman, had eight children by five different women (two in state’s custody), woefully behind on child support, no full-time job, and had abandoned the birth mother while three months pregnant and went back to his wife. The agency said, “We have taken a lot better people to court and won. This will not be a problem.” These words haunted us for five years.