Dear Family and Friends:
Many of you are well aware of the struggles we’ve had trying
to conceive. We laugh whenever we reflect
on this story but seven years ago, after being married for about a year, we
purchased a home with a ready-made nursery (how convenient)! We bought a crib, filled the room with
stuffed animals and proceeded to go about our happily married, busy, kid free
life, enjoying every moment while also looking forward to the day God would
send our little Baby Brown to us.
So we waited…and waited…and waited. At first, we were never really “trying” to
conceive, but we definitely weren’t doing anything to prevent it. Then, after about a year of not getting
pregnant, we started wondering if something was wrong.
To make a long story short, here we are seven years
later and after many tests and consultations,
a couple of surgeries, lots of hope, lots
of frustration and LOTS of prayer, we have made the decision to extend our
family by fostering to adopt - and we
couldn’t be more excited about it!!
You may be asking, “Are you giving up? Have you tried this
remedy…or that procedure…or this treatment”??
We were advised to
try In Vitro Fertilization, as it would be our best strategy. However, the two
of us never felt a sense of peace about going in that direction. We want to
make it abundantly clear that we make no judgements about the use of
fertility drugs or fertility treatments to help a married couple to conceive.
Every couple’s circumstances are different and each couple has the right and a
duty to follow God in whatever opportunities He provides for them.
We wholeheartedly believe that God can and does work
miracles through the brains and hands of doctors. But we didn’t feel that IVF
was God’s plan for our family. In fact, after our last conversation with our doctor,
we simultaneously said to each other, “Let’s just try to adopt” – and that
sealed the deal. God had long since placed adoption on our hearts: in a soft
whisper at first, then a gentle nudge and finally a strong yearning.
We don’t consider adoption to be our Plan B. Our adopted
child will never be the “next best thing”. Adoption is God’s Plan A for our
life.
Once we honestly opened our hearts to the possibility of
adopting, it seemed that God began to reassure us (almost daily) that this is
the path He chose for us. Everywhere we
looked we noticed something that directed our attention to adoption…a TV ad, a radio
commercial, a song, a book, an adoptive parent, an adopted child.
I (Gabby), have a need to know the ins and outs of anything
before I’m all in! So I started reading books on the subject and after each
book I would give a brief synopsis to Titus. He didn’t need convincing, he was
in 100% - but I could tell that his heart was happy to finally see a smile on
my face and to know that I was excited about it.
We didn’t share our thoughts with very many people, as we
wanted to be sure that we were clearly hearing from the Lord and were not
swayed by the opinions or concerns of the well meaning people in our lives. We
know that our family and friends love us and want the very best for us, but we
also know that we are called to be obedient to what God has asked us to do with the gifts, talents and resources
that He has given us.
So here we are! One day after our 8th wedding
anniversary and about a month into the foster to adopt process. One of the
suggestions from our agency was to keep an adoption journal. So we are using
this blog as a way to document the entire experience while also keeping our
family and friends updated on the process. We hope this blog will answer many
of the questions you have. We also hope
that through our story, other couples who might have been considering foster
care or adoption will be inspired by our journey and pray about whether or not
the Lord is leading them in that direction.
Please check back for updates and prayer requests!
Love,
Titus and Gabby
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