Class 5: Birth Parent Experience

Wow! What a week!

We had an amazing time at 5-6th grade summer camp this week.  So cool to see God work in the lives of these pre-teens, and I am so excited to see how He uses them! So thankful to be part of that.

Tuesday afternoon, in the middle of camp, we had to leave camp in Prescott for our 5th adoption class in Phoenix.  My 5th & 6th grade girls were so sweet and supportive of our adoption, and us leaving midweek.  A couple of them asked if we would bring the baby back with us on Wednesday (had to do a little more explaining!).

This class was by far my favorite.  I think Bobby would agree as well.  I think it was because it brought to life one of the aspects of adoption we didn't really know much about.  We also had some guest speakers.  We went a little more in depth on what birth-parents go through.  It was definitely heart-breaking to hear about the adoption experience through their eyes, but so insightful.  It really reiterated how strong of a person they have to be and how much they really do love their child to want so much more for him or her.

We had 3 guest speakers that night - a birth mother and 2 adoptive parents.  Typically in this class they have the birth-mother and the adoptive parents who adopted her child, but this time it was 2 different families.  I actually really liked that we were able to hear 2 different stories v. just 1.

The birth-mother was maybe 20?? and I believe her son is now 1.  She spoke of how she was adopted as well and how she knew in her heart adoption would be the way to make a better life for her son.  His father was in jail, and she knew having a baby in her home with her brother and parents would potentially be a source of stress and strain.  She wanted her son to never feel as if he was a burden.  She wanted him to always feel loved, and so she choose adoption for her child even though she had very little support from her family.  Currently she has an amazing relationship with the family who adopted her son and is helping other birth-mothers!

The adoptive parents who spoke have adopted 2 girls (1 is now 3, and the other is 1).  Their 1st daughter came into their lives after only being certified to adopt for 5 weeks!  They received a "hospital call" on April Fool's Day.  For those of you who are not familiar with that term, a hospital call is when a birth-mother decides when in labor or just after the birth to place the child for adoption, and you are selected!  They were matched with their 2nd daughter when the birth-mother was about 8 months pregnant (again after being in the matchbook for only 5 weeks!).  They were relieved to think they had about a month to prepare for this baby, but the relief quickly faded when a couple of days later they received the call that the birth-mother was in pre-term labor!  They also discussed their current relationships with the birth-families of both of their daughters.

There was not a dry-eye (well for the women, anyway!) when these 3 amazing people shared their stories.  It made it seem even more real that soon we will have our own baby in our home, and hopefully another family in our lives to love on!  So excited to see how God brings it all together - even if that means it all happens within a few weeks of being certified!