I know this isn’t the usual transformation post of a old piece of furniture. But I know this story has a place here. Our family has been transformed in the best way forever.
The actual adoption story is a long one… and there is testimony to God’s amazing timing and His hands upon us throughout times only NOW can I see!!
You see we were a happy little family of 5. Blended and totally full of love. I wasn’t able to have more children and adoption was so heavy on our hearts.
{Adoption Scripture Art CHOSEN (Ephesians 1) 8×10 … by lifeverse on Etsy}
We started when our little guy was just 15 months and well…. when we brought Mia home, he was about to turn 6.
Many upsets, heart breaks, U-turns in the path, lots of tears, and many delays.
But it wasn’t about my plan or my timing- it was all meant to be just the way it happened.
I’d tell you all those details, but what I want to share with you is the actual adoption of Mia.
And the wonderful truths of Down Syndrome that aren’t so “down”.
When we got “the” call that there was a birth mom that had found out she was flagged for down syndrome and would we pray about if we were interested,
my heart at that moment didn’t even skip a beat. I said Yes!! “But don’t you want to pray about it with Dalton?”
I simply said, “he’s at work call his cell- ask him”
So Michelle called and without a second thought he also said “Yes”.
And I thank God~ because Dalton knew my heart was broken and almost shut down.
{a little back story is needed here. after many upsets we had gone back to the international route and chosen a little boy in Thailand that had down syndrome. he had a little funding that would make it
possible for us to choose him. 3 weeks before we were to actually fly out to pick him up the funding fell thru and we were needing almost 30K to go get him- insert 3 other children and that wasn’t happening!!
But in that process we had to write almost a novel and do tons of research on down syndrome. This was my final let down and I thought God’s plan must not be for us to adopt}
We found out this news very early in the pregnancy for our birth mom. So early that she wasn’t truly allowed to choose a family. So this step of faith for us to believe in God’s plan and let
go of what I thought was His perfect plan was very huge for me. I simply prayed and prayed. But in that praying began a transformation of my heart I never thought I would experience.
You see I was a mom- I had 3 children. I couldn’t pray that this child be born with down syndrome so my heart wouldn’t be broken- if she chose to keep the baby.
I couldn’t even pray that she wouldn’t have a change of heart. My heart broke for her on a daily basis that she was being forced to decide such a thing.
I prayed for her health. For the babies health. I prayed to praise Him no matter what happened.
Our adoption was not the typical one either, so I prayed to be a witness to her. You see she wanted no contact.
I answered specific questions she had for us, but she never saw our family book we created. She didn’t get to see what our family looked like. That didn’t matter to her. Our hearts mattered.
I continued to read more and more about down syndrome. I did a lot of retail therapy. I set up her room and nested. I think I gained the weight I would have if I had been pregnant.
But the thing that surprises me most now is in all the research that I did about down syndrome. When Mia was born she fit none of the descriptors, non of the things that made these babies so scary!!
There were no Noah’s Dad blogs, there were only outdated books!! You see I expected this girl to sleep all the time, have no muscle tone, to not feed well… the list goes on.
But she defied it all from the very beginning. She was alert and bright eyed. She held her head up strong and never closed an eye!!
She had 10 tiny toes that fit perfectly into my hands!!
She was so beautiful and my heart just overflowed with joy.
The first 48 hours were the hardest!! We were able to spend the first day holding and loving on Mia.
And then there was a day of nothing. We sat in a hotel and feared the worst and finally had to hand it over to God.
Our birth mom decided she wanted to see Mia, she needed to. My heart knew it and my heart wanted it for her.
But the other side feared she’d see her and that would be that!!
But the papers were signed and we were ready to go home.
I want to share this story with you in a series of posts. I want you to see what down syndrome looks like on a daily basis. And what it doesn’t look like.
I want to dispell the fears and share the joys. I want you to know that these little children are capable of great things and bring such joy to our life!!
Every Sunday will be all about our Mia!! Please come back and allow me to share our adoption journey and our sweet princess with you.
Feel free to email any questions along the way!!
Do you see her sweet sweet smile??
Thank you for allowing me this pleasure. ~ Lori
{Adoption Scripture Art CHOSEN (Ephesians 1) 8×10 … by lifeverse on Etsy}
We started when our little guy was just 15 months and well…. when we brought Mia home, he was about to turn 6.
Many upsets, heart breaks, U-turns in the path, lots of tears, and many delays.
But it wasn’t about my plan or my timing- it was all meant to be just the way it happened.
I’d tell you all those details, but what I want to share with you is the actual adoption of Mia.
And the wonderful truths of Down Syndrome that aren’t so “down”.
When we got “the” call that there was a birth mom that had found out she was flagged for down syndrome and would we pray about if we were interested,
my heart at that moment didn’t even skip a beat. I said Yes!! “But don’t you want to pray about it with Dalton?”
I simply said, “he’s at work call his cell- ask him”
So Michelle called and without a second thought he also said “Yes”.
And I thank God~ because Dalton knew my heart was broken and almost shut down.
{a little back story is needed here. after many upsets we had gone back to the international route and chosen a little boy in Thailand that had down syndrome. he had a little funding that would make it
possible for us to choose him. 3 weeks before we were to actually fly out to pick him up the funding fell thru and we were needing almost 30K to go get him- insert 3 other children and that wasn’t happening!!
But in that process we had to write almost a novel and do tons of research on down syndrome. This was my final let down and I thought God’s plan must not be for us to adopt}
We found out this news very early in the pregnancy for our birth mom. So early that she wasn’t truly allowed to choose a family. So this step of faith for us to believe in God’s plan and let
go of what I thought was His perfect plan was very huge for me. I simply prayed and prayed. But in that praying began a transformation of my heart I never thought I would experience.
You see I was a mom- I had 3 children. I couldn’t pray that this child be born with down syndrome so my heart wouldn’t be broken- if she chose to keep the baby.
I couldn’t even pray that she wouldn’t have a change of heart. My heart broke for her on a daily basis that she was being forced to decide such a thing.
I prayed for her health. For the babies health. I prayed to praise Him no matter what happened.
Our adoption was not the typical one either, so I prayed to be a witness to her. You see she wanted no contact.
I answered specific questions she had for us, but she never saw our family book we created. She didn’t get to see what our family looked like. That didn’t matter to her. Our hearts mattered.
I continued to read more and more about down syndrome. I did a lot of retail therapy. I set up her room and nested. I think I gained the weight I would have if I had been pregnant.
But the thing that surprises me most now is in all the research that I did about down syndrome. When Mia was born she fit none of the descriptors, non of the things that made these babies so scary!!
There were no Noah’s Dad blogs, there were only outdated books!! You see I expected this girl to sleep all the time, have no muscle tone, to not feed well… the list goes on.
But she defied it all from the very beginning. She was alert and bright eyed. She held her head up strong and never closed an eye!!
She had 10 tiny toes that fit perfectly into my hands!!
She was so beautiful and my heart just overflowed with joy.
The first 48 hours were the hardest!! We were able to spend the first day holding and loving on Mia.
And then there was a day of nothing. We sat in a hotel and feared the worst and finally had to hand it over to God.
Our birth mom decided she wanted to see Mia, she needed to. My heart knew it and my heart wanted it for her.
But the other side feared she’d see her and that would be that!!
But the papers were signed and we were ready to go home.
I want to share this story with you in a series of posts. I want you to see what down syndrome looks like on a daily basis. And what it doesn’t look like.
I want to dispell the fears and share the joys. I want you to know that these little children are capable of great things and bring such joy to our life!!
Every Sunday will be all about our Mia!! Please come back and allow me to share our adoption journey and our sweet princess with you.
Feel free to email any questions along the way!!
Do you see her sweet sweet smile??
Thank you for allowing me this pleasure. ~ Lori
I am in awe of your story and look forward to reading it each week.
God bless,
B
Thank you Barbara!! I look forward to sharing more and more!! ~Lori
Shes a doll, bless her and your family.
Thank you Whitney!!
OMgosh, this just touched me so. I was getting ready for bed and saw your post pop up. Truly, truly beautiful. I will have some sweet dreams for sure tonight. Thanks for sharing. XO
Thank you sooo much for popping over to read it before you headed to a sweet slumber!! i look forward to sharing the rest of her story. ~ Lori
That is a beautiful post and I thank you for sharing your true heart. She is a sweetheart, doll face, absolute Qt!! I can see the love radiating from the pictures :))))
Blessings to you and your family.
Thank you Shannon!! She’s an amazing little girl!!
She is absolutely beautiful. Some of my favorite people have Downs. I can’t wait to hear the rest of your story. I’d love to call you up and hear it all today! I know that your lives are blessed because of her.
Thank you so much Bev!! It’s hard not to share it all right now. Our lives are so blessed because of her!! ~ Lori
Wow..what a beautiful child. Our third child (daughter) is adopted. God gave us such a blessing the day she came to live with us (at 3 weeks old). And it is so true “I’m in love with a child I haven’t met yet” …we had that feeling also.
Our daughter is now 24 with a daughter of her own….you are so blessed and I can not wait to hear the rest of the story.
Cindy
Thank you Cindy!! And thank you for sharing a little back with me!! ~ Lori
I love how your faith and trust in Him allowed you to be patient during this very long and uncertain process. She is such a beautiful child! So worth the wait!!!
Thank you Rashelle!! It was a long and uncertain journey indeed!! I think it was a lesson in patience I will never forget!! I look back at all the “God Stop” moments and see now exactly why He said No!! I can’t imagine this life without her!! So blessed to not have to know!! ~ Lori
What a great way to share your love Lori. Yours will be a life of many challenges and many more joys. God Bless you all.
So many joys that will totally outweigh any of the challenges we face!! Thank you for taking the time to read and comment!! Have a blessed day!! ~ Lori
Hello Lori,
Thanks for sharing your precious story. I have a similar story. I adopted two baby girls with Down Syndrome. They are now in their 20’s and doing great. I wouldn’t trade one moment of our lives together.
My two girls are sooooo different. It’s amazing. It was definitely God’s plan for our lives and I rejoice in His perfect will for all of us. Congratulations and looking forward to hearing about your path!
Oh Dawn thank you for sharing a little of your story with me. How wonderful!! I would love to hear more. I love meeting other mama’s with children who are older than Mia. Such a neat way to look down the road and see what lies ahead!! Hope you have a wonderful day!! Blessings to you!!
[…] cannot tell you the emotional roller coaster that began… that’s been written about here before… The funny part of the adoption story is our oldest who shares her birthday, called it […]