Heartbreak & Hope

 As many of you know, we had our adoption process stopped yesterday morning. The long story short is basically that we had been selected to adopt a 20-month-old little girl. We met her and a few members of her family on Monday, and things went wonderfully. Unfortunately, the birth father was either unaware or simply unprepared to complete the necessary steps in order for us to take custody of this little angel. We were notified by our social worker first thing on Tuesday morning.

First of all, I'd like to thank each and every one of you who have reached out to us in various ways. Truly, we are blessed with how much support, love, and prayer that have been showered upon us. This has been an extremely hard turn of events, since it had such an unexpected outcome. There is a chance, though slim, that the birth father could change his mind (he had originally agreed to the adoption wholeheartedly), but Joe and I will soon be put back on the wait list for CSSM. 

Though we are heartsick over these events, we have faith and confidence that this is all part of God's plan. It isn't an easy place to be in, and we are truly so heartbroken over how things worked out. However, our hope is not placed on the things of this earth, and we take comfort in knowing that God is present with us through all of this. It is always so hard to have a dream come to an end, even temporarily. It truly feels like a death, though it is worse in some ways because we also know that this precious little girl is still in an unsafe situation, and that hurts our hearts the worst. Please pray for her protection physically, emotionally, and mentally, and that God would place other people in her life who will point her to Him. 

Our time of grieving is not over, but we also have the hope and joy that this is not the end. We pray that this time will bring us closer to God and closer as a family. I am reminded, as I type, that this blog is called "Adventures in Adoption". In adventures, there are always times of troubles and pain. The truly great adventures are the ones in which the characters take their troubles and sorrows, persevere through them, and ultimately find what they have been so desperately searching for. I also take comfort in Jesus' words “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” -John 16:33.

We covet your prayers, and we are so thankful for every one of them. If nothing else, this experience is drawing us closer to God and each other, which is an amazing blessing, and we hope that we can be a blessing to others through this. We love you all.

-Joe, Shiloh, & Lydia