Elizabeth's adoption story (part 2)

If you have not read part one of Elizabeth's adoption story, you are welcome to read it here. I will pick up where I left off with Elizabeth's story. We were finishing up the meeting at the adoption agency, and it was clear that Elizabeth's father felt we were the perfect family for his little girl. The meeting had gone as well as it possibly could.

Before we left the building, Elizabeth motioned that she wanted to tell me something, so I leaned down and she smiled and said, "I like ice cream." I told her that I liked ice cream too, and suggested we get ice cream together next time we see each other. Elizabeth seemed pleased with this plan, and as we were walking out to our cars with her birth father that evening, I said "It's funny, but 'Elizabeth' is actually my middle name." He got a huge smile on his face, and said, "I'm telling you, I really feel that this was all just meant to be." Okay, so I realize Elizabeth is a fairly common middle name for little girls born in 1980, but still, it's a detail we couldn't help but notice, especially since our five year old "Max" has my husband Zach's middle name. We left the meeting that night and went to pick up Levi, Max and Isaiah from our friends' house. Thank you Nathan and Shannon Phillips, for the wonderful chicken taco dinner, and for being so kind to watch our boys during our first meeting with Elizabeth! Our family of five drove back to my parents' house that night, filled with wonder, excitement, and many more questions than answers.

For the next couple of days, Elizabeth's birth father and I texted back and forth, and then one afternoon, we were texting, and I sent him a message, and did not get a response. I did not hear back from him that day, or that week, or for the rest of the month. I was so thankful that I had at least taken a quick picture of Elizabeth with my phone, because if I hadn't, the whole meeting and this sweet little girl would have seemed like nothing more than a dream. It was evident that God brought the whole thing together--the timing of events was incredible.

But would we ever hear from the birth father again? It was completely out of our hands. I had tons of questions. Why did he stop texting? I couldn't think of anything "wrong" that I said or did. Our conversation stopped abruptly. Did something happen? Did she have a significant bruise that needed to heal before we could see her again? Did he change his mind about wanting to place her for adoption? Was she taken back into DHS custody and placed with a foster family? Will we ever see her again? 

After a couple of weeks of not hearing from him, I emailed the adoption agency and gave them an update, telling them I felt it was unlikely we would ever hear from him again. Zach and I committed in our hearts to praying for Elizabeth- praying that she would know God's love and that He would keep her safe. We resolved to think that perhaps this was the purpose in our meeting her, to pray for her. We comforted ourselves, saying it would have probably been a very difficult road to parent a child who had been through so much, anyway. But something still felt unsettled. When God is writing a story, it should not end after chapter one, you know?

Life went on as normal and in late June (about two weeks after our initial encounter with Elizabeth) we received the news that we were going to be able to finalize Isaiah's adoption (in Tulsa) on his first birthday, July 18th. We weren't exactly thrilled about the idea of another long road trip, only one month after our last trip to Tulsa, but we were thrilled to have a date on the calendar for Isaiah's adoption finalization. Adoption days are a big deal, partly because the child goes into the court room with one last name, and comes out with with the adoptive family's last name.  It is a day to celebrate!

After not hearing anything from Elizabeth's birth father for quite some time, we started to move on with our lives, enjoy the summer, and plan yet another trip to Tulsa. We decided we would leave for Tulsa on July 16th and come back home on the 20th.

On July 15th, I was upstairs packing for the trip, and I heard my phone chime, indicating I had received a text message. I finished up what I was doing, and obediently came down to check my phone a few minutes later.

It was him! It was Elizabeth's birth father. I had three text messages from him, apologizing for the lack of contact, and explaining how he had run out of minutes, then lost his phone, etc. "Zach!" I exclaimed. "It's Elizabeth's birth father. He says he still definitely wants to place Elizabeth with us, if we are still willing." And that is the moment our lives turned upside down, and for real this time. I texted him back and told him yes, that we would still be very excited to add Elizabeth to our family. Then I texted, "It's kind of funny, but we are actually leaving for Tulsa tomorrow and will be there through the weekend." He was amazed at the timing of everything, and we were too.


We were going to get to see her again! And this time we would get to spend three days and three nights with her. What would she be like? How would she get along with the boys? Would she do okay? While I was disappointed in myself for letting go of hope during that phase of our journey, I committed to letting my love outweigh my fear for the remainder of Elizabeth's adoption journey. It is clear that God has a plan for Elizabeth, and for our family. We are simply saying "yes!" to being part of that plan. We are saying yes to the good and the bad, yes to hard days, difficult moments, and to the beautiful redemption that will make it all so worth it.

We are confident that God has placed Elizabeth in our family, and that He will give us everything we need to be the parents (and family) she needs. It is going to be awesome! Part 3 of Elizabeth's adoption story will be fun to write, because I have some sweet stories about our three days together. You will get a glimpse of Elizabeth's fun personality and I will also share what the next few months are going to look like for our family. Thank you for adventuring with us and for cheering us on! We are thankful for each one of you.

Gratefully,

Kate