How Seth Became Ours

So how did our family end up with a precious domestic baby boy when we weren't even looking for it? Let me share with you about that Awesome God we serve and how things always work out always for the good of the Lord.

As many of you may know, we are in the process of adopting internationally. This is a very long and treacherous process. We are pretty much on standby until we are called that we have been matched up with our baby girl. Until then, all we can do is wait. It's been about 11mths since we began this process but my hubbie and I have remained faithful in knowing that God's timing is indeed perfect, and this was affirmed to us by our "miracle baby" Seth.

In this blog, I will not be using the real names of the people involved as to keep their privacy. I was approached by a women who used to work in the same office building were we had our office. This women, we will call her "Jill" knew that we were in the waiting process for a baby girl internationally. Jill approached me one day and asked if Herb and I would be interested in adopting a baby domestically?

Before I go any further, let me just say that Herb and I were not interested in adoption period. The Lord has used orphans around the world to touch our hearts. One orphan that God used was now my beautiful nephew "Kai" - Kai came home from China alittle over a year ago and blessed our lives incredibly. He was the beggining of the adoption world in our family. He was the one who soften our hearts to even consider adoption, after meeting and seeing how much you can love a little person without giving birth to them, both Herb and I realized that the Lord was very much leading our lives toward adoption and wanting to bless us tremendously.

Going back to our "miracle baby" Seth - after "Jill" approached us and asked the question, were we interested in adopting a newborn. My first thought was "wow" We would finally have a baby, but yet my heart was on the lookout guarding itself from a reoccurence of pain and sorrow. I inquired about who the BP (Birth Parents) were and what their history was. "Jill told me that the BP were related to her by marriage. It was a young couple, BD (Birth dad) is 31ys old and BM (Birth mom) is 24yrs old. Seth's BP come from a disfunctional background. The BP were pretty much homeless when we came into the picture and finacially they could not keep the baby. I told her that I would discuss this with Herb and I would get back to her. In reality, what I really wanted to do was PRAY ABOUT THIS. I did mention it to Herb and he almost instantly said YES, let's do this. I said to Herb - you know as much as we want a baby, we need to invite the Lord into this situation because maybe this is not what HE wants and it will turn out to be a nightmare. I knew deep within my heart that if this was coming from the Lord, that all would be well but if not this would be a disaster.

So, we both prayed and prayed about this domestic adoption. I said Lord if this is not your will for us, I pray that you remove it from our lives. You have given me much peace about not being able to get pregnant and I just want to live out your will for my life. Weeks went by and I just keeping being at peace with this adoption. So, I approached "Jill" one day and I said "ok - we will accept this adoption if the BP are serious about this". She told me okay that she would try and reach them and let us know.

About a month or so went by, we never heard anything from anyone, meanwhile we kept praying for the Lord's will to be done. I approached "Jill" and said to her - "well have you spoken to the BP about this baby, and she said Yes - but they are going to try and keep the baby. I said "ok" no problem. There was no emotion on my end because I was trying to guard my heart and leave it to GOD. When I got that answer from "Jill" I figured that was God's answer. So, we went on with our lives. This was around May 2007, the BM was around 6mths pregnant by this time.

So, April 30 - May 4th, 2007, our family had planned to go on the "Music Boat". It is a Christian Cruise with over 16 Christian bands and over 40 concerts through out the week. The boat was sailing to Jamaica. The day before we are scheduled to leave on this cruise. I get a call from "Jill" stating that the BM has just been arrested for writing bad checks and for sure they could not keep the baby.

Upon going to jail, corrections had taken her to the hospital to confirm that she was pregnant. She was immediately placed on bed rest because she had "Placenta Previa" and this could cause her to go into premature labor. The BM wanted to make contact with us to let us know that they were definetly now not keeping the baby. As this just put frosting on the cake when it came to their financial burden.

Florida Law states that if a women gives birth in a correctional facility - the baby automatically goes to foster care, unless there is a private adoption taking place and I guess the BM knew that and she wanted to be sure that her baby did not end up in foster care. After receiving the call from "Jill" - and she confirmed that this was a go, I immediately spoke to Herb and we contact our attorney. The attorney had advised that as long as we had our paperwork in order, if she did go into premature labor - the baby would not go into the system because a private adoption would already be in place. So basically, we were on a time table.

On top of all of this the BP did not live her locally, they were living near Gainsville. So it was going to make things alittle harder for the attorney to have them sign off on paperwork being that they lived far away.

So, the Lord continued to move mountains in this adoption. Everyday that went by, HE just keeped confirming and affirming that this is what HE wanted for us.

Once we got all the paperwork in order, we had to sign a contract. Florida Law states that the adoptive parents are responsible for paying any expenses to make sure that the baby is in a safe enviroment. So we had to pay for their living expenses, food and clothing. When I say that this couple had nothing, they literally have nothing. They were living in a tent at a campsite with some friends.

Eventually, the BM got out of jail - she was sentenced to (6) mths house arrest w/probation supervision and weekly drug testing. (Another known blessing) because if she was out an about in the streets, who knows what she would have been doing while pregant. Herb and I relocated them and put them up to live in those weekly motels. Their expenses have to be paid until (1) month after the baby is born, which will be Sept. 6th. Of course, all expenses have been paid through the attorney and then forward to them.

Once they arrived locally, the BM immediately received medical attention - all her medical records were forwarded to us and we have a good solid background for Seth, which is really important. All drug testing that was done on her came back negative, HIV Test came back negative and considering her circumstances, she remains pretty healthy.

Going back to the Christian Cruise we were on, the Lord really spoke to my heart during that week, thru devotions, praise and worship and even guest speakers. One of the first people that I ran into on that cruise was the president of the James Fund, and this is what my eyes first saw after keeping this domestic adoption in prayer.

"The James Fund, partners with its customers in a shared mission: Reaching out to orphans and widows by showing them the love of our Heavenly Father". You can read more about the James Fund at http://www.jamesfund.org/

Later on that same week on the cruise, the Lord said to me "Ily it's not about you having a baby, it's about me using you to care for one of my orphans". I knew right then and their that everything was going to be ok. At that point, it no longer mattered how that baby was going to be born because it wasen't about me having a baby, it was and continues to be all about HIM allowing us to care for his orphan child.

The scripture that lead this whole adoption Journey came from James 1:27 - where it reads "What God the father considers to be pure and genuine religion is this: to take care of orphans and widows in their suffering and to keep oneself from being corrupted by the world".

In essence, Herb and I were being used not only to care for his orphan but to also care for his widow. You see the Birth Mothers parents both died from drug abuse. Seth BM was places in foster care at the age of 17yrs old, which plays a HUGE factor in why she placed her baby for adoption. She told me that she was in foster care and it was horrible and she would never ever want any of her children to end up there.

You know, Herb and I met with the BP several times and one of the things that I told her is that I respected her for making the ultimate sacrifice of placing her baby for adoption. Most girls her age would have chosen the easy way out (Abortion) but she loved this baby so much, that she carried him for 9mths and then gave him to another mother to raise. That my friends is the ultimate sacrifice. I pray that the Lord guide Seth's birth parents, to protect them and help them find their way. Herb and I will forever be grateful for the gift that these BP gave us and never will their be a day that goes on without a prayer for both of them.

The next blog will be the emotional 48 Hrs at the hospital upon Seth being born.