Published January 2009
Celebrating A Year of Joy
As we look back over the last year since Jacob and Faith came home, we think back to what led us to adopt. We had been married for thirteen years and always knew we wanted to be parents. We had been through a few years of frustrating infertility treatment without success, and came to adoption from different directions. When we decided to bring children into our family through adoption, we agreed do our research separately, and then come back together with our recommendations. The Cradle was on the top of both of our lists! We felt excited but mostly nervous about the path we were about to travel, one that even with our apprehension we knew would lead us in the right direction.
We attended our Adoption 101 meeting at The Cradle on a Saturday in May of 2007, a day unlike any other we had shared. The drive from the south suburbs to Evanston took about an hour. We were among a dozen or so potential adoptive families who were at the Cradle to gather as much information as they could about adoption. Our focus was in particular on The Ardythe and Gayle Sayers Center for African American Adoption.
We left realizing how much work we had to do to reach the “Gotcha Day” celebrations that had been discussed in class. We had classes to take, homework to finish, and applications to be completed.
Most importantly, we had to talk with our families before we could truly get started in the process. We planned a dinner for our immediate family members to discuss our decision to adopt a child. Although we didn’t have all the answers, we felt that sharing the information we had been given by The Cradle was important. We wanted everyone to realize how wonderful this choice was going to be, and we also wanted to give everyone a chance to ask questions and learn along with us.
We set the table and put a copy of The Cradle’s Myths About Adoption at every person’s place setting. We walked in to our Adoption 101 class with some misperceptions about adopted children and adoptive families, and so we knew that it was likely that some of our family members held on to the same myths that are so common in our community.
We felt good about sharing this information with our families. It allowed us to proceed with an adoption plan, knowing that everyone knew just how much this meant to us.
As the summer of 2007 rolled around we followed our usual habits of tending to work less and travel more. We had a very busy travel schedule that summer, so we weren’t as diligent in completing our paperwork as we should have been. But by September, we were back on track, and we had completed our Home Study and Profile by Thanksgiving. We went on the Sayers Center waiting list December 21, 2007 and declared to our family and friends, “We’re expecting!”
Our counselor, Elizabeth Keith, called us on January 9th to ask if we would like our profile shown to the birthparents of healthy twins who had been born on December 28, 2007. We will never forget that moment when our hearts jumped at the thought of finally having the blessing of children. One week later we had been officially selected by our birthmother, and on January 22nd, Jacob and Faith came home.
We look back and know that everything on our path to growing our family happened as it did for a reason. We have spoken to the birthparents on several occasions, sharing holiday and birthday photos. The process ended up bringing us closer together as a couple. Whether it was the lengthy drives to Evanston, the homework, the classes or the waiting, in the end it was well worth it!
