Wow, it’s been a while since my last post! Although I haven’t written about it, the last few years have been full and happy; raising boys (now 6 & 4), renovating our home, and creating memories with friends and family. However, THIS WEEK, we are embarking on a wildly new adventure that must be documented on the pages of my virtual scrapbook. Hold on tight…

It all began in September 2020. We were sitting on our porch when we received a Facetime call from Kevin’s sister Monica and her husband Dan, who had the most amazing news… they had just met their future daughter! What?! Let’s back up…

Dan and Monica had been trying to have a baby for the past few years and to their dismay had been unable to get pregnant. They had been praying about it, being so faithful in the waiting period, and finally decided they were going to start saving for adoption. One day they were on a walk, talking and dreaming about what it would be like to be parents, when they began talking about baby names. They decided that if they were ever to have a girl they would name her Ellie Rose. That same day, Monica was casually talking to a friend on Instagram, just catching up, when she mentioned that her and Dan were thinking of adoption. To her surprise, the friend told her that she had an aunt and uncle who were looking for a couple to adopt their granddaughter and asked Monica if she would be interested in meeting them. Monica and Dan jumped at such a unique opportunity and said YES. It just so happened the grandparents lived about an hour away and could meet them that week…and their granddaughter’s name? ELLIE ROSE! I kid you not. I about fell to the floor, goosebumps up my arm, with tears in my eyes astonishment when she told us this. She continued by telling us that when they met they instantly hit it off and had been visiting for the past few weeks. Oh! The kicker… she looks just like them! WOW! We could not stop smiling and thanking God for this incredible story that was unfolding before our very eyes.

In November 2020, Ellie officially began living with Dan and Monica and we got to bear witness to God’s goodness in their lives! Our family was absolutely smitten with little Ellie Rose, she came to the river with us, we celebrated her 2nd birthday here at the house, enjoyed Thanksgiving and Christmas with her… all the while praising God for this little miracle that was dropped into our laps. I just couldn’t stop thinking about how amazing this all was. The crazy part is this story is miraculous regardless of the handpicked name or the matching blonde hair, yet it seemed like God threw those details in as if he were saying, “just in case you don’t believe it’s me…”. What a gift it is to be an outsider watching God’s faithfulness unravel. It emboldens your faith and reinforces your belief in God’s love for his children. What a good good Father we have in God. But it doesn’t end there…

Now here is where the story gets even more interesting! A few weeks ago, we found out that Ellie’s birth mom has a twin sister who also has a baby in need of adoption. This mom heard about Ellie’s story and contacted Monica to ask if she would be willing to adopt her baby as well to keep the girls together. Although Monica and Dan loved the idea of it, they decided they needed to focus on Ellie first so they told the mom they couldn’t do it. She then asked if they knew anyone else who might be interested. Monica thought about it and decided to reach out to a family that also understood the struggles of infertility and the blessing of adoption, as their youngest, was adopted a few years back. This family joyfully moved forward and began planning for this unexpected blessing but as they moved along in the process they felt God telling them that it wasn’t the right timing. So they made the tough decision not to proceed.

Now when Kevin and I first heard about this new baby we were surprised to discover a mutual yearning for an opportunity like this. We have wanted a third child, and had even begun the early stages of fertility treatment, but we hadn’t considered adoption yet… but here we were both longing for it. Although we were excited for this potential family we realized that learning about this special request uprooted a desire within our hearts to fulfill this type of calling. It felt like God was quietly saying no to fertility treatment and yes to adoption, he was opening and closing all of the right doors. So after lots of prayer we decided to inquire more about this special baby, Ellie’s cousin, Kacelynn.

We made the call two weeks ago to tell Kacelynn’s family that we were interested in learning more and that we were thrilled with the idea of keeping the girls together, as cousins. Since then we have been swept up in a whirlwind of details. We have had many phone calls with the social worker, applied for foster care, and met the birth mom, grandparents, and BABY! We have been praying fiercely for God’s wisdom and discernment and have been met with supernatural peace and assurance. Never have we felt the guiding hand of God as strongly as we do now. Our first meeting with the family lasted 5 hours and we left feeling like we had just gained new family members. It wasn’t weird. It wasn’t uncomfortable. It was exactly how God ordained it to be. We could have never planned it to go so well.

Fast forward to today, February 8th (actually 9th because this post has taken me past midnight to write), our baby room is ready, a new carseat has been delivered, the house has been baby-proofed again and we await our home study this afternoon! Pending on that going well, we could have baby Kacelynn in our home THIS week. Her birth mom has sacrificially and lovingly handed this baby into our care and we could not be more thankful for this opportunity to become her forever family. We don’t know the details of what lies ahead but we DO know who does and we trust HIM entirely.

If you have read this far and think that these woven stories are sheer coincidences then please reach out to me because it only means I haven’t explained it well enough. God is real. He is good. He is faithful. He knows our desires and works towards our good. And he extends mercy upon undeserving people (like you and me).

My prayer is that this story encourages you and builds your confidence in our sovereign God, just like it has ours.

Oh, P.S. we discovered that the name Kacelynn means gift from God. I’m done.

To be continued…