I always have new readers and because of that, I want to make sure that our story is easy to read for those who do not want to scroll through the mundane to get to the meat!
So for you, new reader...and for those that just love a good story....here is how we came to adopt our second son.
In the spring of 2010, we made the decision to adopt a third and final child. We knew we very much wanted a baby boy...African American...so Isaac would not be the only brown skinned family member. We went with the adoption agency we had adopted Vivi from because we loved them so much. Throughout the month of May and June, we did our paperwork...had our home study...and began our fundraising. On the very day that our agency approved us at the end of June, we got a very unexpected phone call. It was our old CPS caseworker stating that Isaac's birth mother had given birth to another son who was now two and half years old. He had just entered foster care for the first time and being that she knew where the case would likely go...asked if we would be willing to parent him with the intention of adopting him if parental rights were terminated. We were shocked and thrilled! When she told us his him name was Jayden, I just couldn't believe it because that was one of the boy names I loved for our next child.
We checked with our adoption agency who approved us to take him while remaining in the domestic infant adoption program. We felt it was only by God's timing that we got the call for Jayden as we were waiting and approved for a baby...instead of a month or two before we had begun this process. It was a very strong calling on our life to not stop our family with three, like we had originally planned...but to open our minds and heart to the very real fact that with this CPS call, God had chosen for us to have four children.
A couple weeks went by and we were allowed to go to the CPS office to meet him.
Here is where Isaac met his brother for the first time.
So for you, new reader...and for those that just love a good story....here is how we came to adopt our second son.
In the spring of 2010, we made the decision to adopt a third and final child. We knew we very much wanted a baby boy...African American...so Isaac would not be the only brown skinned family member. We went with the adoption agency we had adopted Vivi from because we loved them so much. Throughout the month of May and June, we did our paperwork...had our home study...and began our fundraising. On the very day that our agency approved us at the end of June, we got a very unexpected phone call. It was our old CPS caseworker stating that Isaac's birth mother had given birth to another son who was now two and half years old. He had just entered foster care for the first time and being that she knew where the case would likely go...asked if we would be willing to parent him with the intention of adopting him if parental rights were terminated. We were shocked and thrilled! When she told us his him name was Jayden, I just couldn't believe it because that was one of the boy names I loved for our next child.
We checked with our adoption agency who approved us to take him while remaining in the domestic infant adoption program. We felt it was only by God's timing that we got the call for Jayden as we were waiting and approved for a baby...instead of a month or two before we had begun this process. It was a very strong calling on our life to not stop our family with three, like we had originally planned...but to open our minds and heart to the very real fact that with this CPS call, God had chosen for us to have four children.
A couple weeks went by and we were allowed to go to the CPS office to meet him.
Here is where Isaac met his brother for the first time.
We waited an agonizing 5 weeks from when CPS called, to when they brought him home. We had prepared the whole house for his arrival, setting up bunk beds in what would now be the "boys' room", purchasing personal items for him to have, and of course preparing the kids to welcome a brother who was not the little baby they had expected...but a big toddler!
Jayden came home on July 28, 2010.
We quickly folded him right into the family and tried to make up for all the time lost.
He was calling me "Mama" by day 2 and crying if I left him to run an errand. He went from an expressionless face to laughing and playing in no time despite all he had been through in his little life.
We would have lots of work to do to make sure he knew he was safe and now in a home where kids had a routine, bedtimes, and healthy eating and exercise. We spent a year fighting for his rights medically...fighting for his right to stop birth mother visitations that upset him....bringing his beloved cousins who had been raised with him into our home for the holidays and once a month following...fighting for an adoption date to finally get this boy a forever family.
We took this journey with him, not knowing for sure if he would get to stay.
But feeling right away that he was already our son. We were his family. We prayed through the termination of parental rights, we received the first letter ever from the boys' birth mom, beautifully written to them and us. We cried at times, we yelled at times at "the system" that was so broken...and we got on our knees and thanked our Savior for bringing our boy home.
And on the morning of July 27, 2011...the day before his one year homecoming...we went to court with loved ones in tow, and made him our child forever.
Jayden Isaiah.
The second son we always wanted, the third child we had hoped and prayed for... but who came in such an unexpected and glorious way.
A story only our God could have orchestrated.
**below are the year's worth of blog posts detailing his journey to becoming our child.**
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