Our Snowflake Miracle (part 3)

We were blessed in this process to meet our social worker, who by God’s providence, had adopted three children from Korea who were now teens and adults which gave us an instant good connection. We felt that as she got to know our family that she began to fully support us and at the end of our homestudy visits, reminded us that our close family and friends would surely understand this extension of our heart for the fatherless.  Our homestudy progressed rapidly with a few bumps along the way. 

We had been praying that we could have approval by Chelsea’s 17^th birthday or else she would have to be fingerprinted as an adult (and the nearest fingerprint places are hours away…actually so is Target… but that’s a story for a different day!).  Our FBI fingerprints at one point went missing and our homestudy was complete and ready for approval.  We kept praying and asking God to help them be found and He did it step by step, bringing in quickly all of the necessary documentation.  Then on May 2^nd we received a surprising email that our homestudy agency director was questioning our income and family size and that our approval was in danger.  We had seen the hand of God in our process and knew that He had been opening doors that we could not open on our own and had given us faith to keep on walking.  We prayed like crazy and invited others in the adoption community to know quickly of our story and to be our prayer warriors.  It is hard to describe what it feels like to be in that position..knowing God has full power to answer you..but knowing His will may be different than what you ask of Him.

My heart identified that day with Abraham as he climbed Mt Moriah…and I imagined he cried too as he realized that God was asking him to sacrifice his dream for the One who had placed it in his heart.  Through tears I declared that I loved the Lord more than any dream He had placed in me and that He will provide.  I had to be willing to lay it down and not hold it so tightly and God gave us strength.  The morning of May 3^rd I prayed and called out for friends on facebook to pray without being able to share our amazing story and friends prayed without even knowing what I needed prayer for.  I was so blessed to have their support and love.  That afternoon I had planned to meet with another pastor’s wife who shared our heart for adoption and to tell her the details about our story..only suddenly our story didn’t look like it was going to end well.  I decided that I wanted to still tell the story..to say that God is faithful and He has been good and done miracles even if it all falls apart today.  Well while I was meeting with her, God heard the prayers of His kids..and he answered!!!!!  I came home to an email saying that the director had decided to grant us approval on the basis of the positive recommendation of our social worker.  THANK YOU JESUS!  He is able to do more than we think or ask.

Today we’ve decided to share our story and our only desire is to share that God is great and He is doing something using us when we are so undeserving.  I pray that by opening up and sharing the personal details of our family’s adoption journey through the miracle of embryo adoption that others will see Him and Him only.  While I’ve been tempted to hide it in secret because it is personal, we have decided to share so that others will see Him and that our lives may touch many through God’s story.  We invite you into our journey with us.  I don’t know why He’s chosen weak people like us to walk this road.  We are not crazy, we are not brave, we are not worthy….just willing.

We have been officially matched with our genetic family and are filling out legal paperwork that will allow us to move the embryos in their frozen state to our clinic in St Louis.  In the eyes of the world, these embryos are just property so unfortunately that is how they are viewed.  Because we are working with a Christian organization that values them as life, we are also completing additional steps to adopt them and to maintain an open relationship with the genetic parents in the future.   Just this past week I tearfully read the stories of the genetic parents as well as looked at pictures of the genetic sibling twins that were born 7 years ago and had multiple medical issues.  We continue to pray and trust God through this process and felt His peace in accepting them officially.

So what is next?

Soon I will begin a medical protocol to prepare my body for them which involves a variety of medicines.  We hope to then have them transferred to me late this summer (only up to 2 in case you are wondering! We will refreeze those that survive the thaw but are more than the 2 we are willing to implant at one time..I am too old to risk triplets!).  We pray that God gives us the desire of our hearts that these embryos survive the thawing process and that they live and grow.  We still have a long road ahead of us and covet your prayers for our family during this exciting time.  I am 40 years old and cannot believe that God has chosen me to be the mom to snowflakes who live in a vial in the Midwest J  For all these months I have felt a bit like Mary and have silently treasured all these things in my heart..but today I share because God is so amazing that I cannot keep silent any longer.  Thanks for reading about our amazing snowflake journey!  To God be the glory..great things He has done!

PS If you’d like to know more about embryo adoption, please visit www.embryoadoption.org to have your questions answered!